^x  Hibvia 

€t  gJmicorum  Quorum 
^n  iflemoriam 

l^oberti  "Galantine  J^ectoljer 

•a.  18.  l^arbarli.  1906 


MUSIC   IN   THE   HISTORY 

OF 

THE   WESTERN    CHURCH 


BY  EDWARD  DICKINSON 

THE  SPIRIT  OF  MTJBIC 

IftTBIC    IN   THE    HISTORY    OF   THE    WESTERN   CHTTRCa 

THE   STUDY    OF   THE   HISTORY    OF   MUSIC 

THE   EDUCATION   OF  A   MUSIC   LOVER 

MUSIC    AND   THE   HIGHER   EDUCATION 

CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 


MUSIC  IN  THE  HISTORY 
OF  THE  WESTERN  CHURCH 


WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION 

ON  RELIGIOUS  MUSIC  AMONG  PRIMITIVE  AND 

ANCIENT  PEOPLES 


BY 
EDWARD    DICKINSON 

Professor  of  the  History  of  Music,  in  the  Conservatory  of  Music, 
Oberlin  College 


NEW    YORK 

CHARLES    SCRIBNER'S    SONS 

1925 


COPYKIGHT,  1902,  BY 

CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


Published  April,  1902 


To  My  Wife 


PREFACE 

The  practical  administration  of  music  in  public  wor- 
ship is  one  of  the  most  interesting  of  the  secondary 
problems  with  which  the  Christian  Church  has  been 
called  upon  to  deal.  Song  has  proved  such  a  universal 
necessity  in  worship  that  it  may  almost  be  said,  no 
music  no  Church.  The  endless  diversity  of  musical 
forms  and  styles  involves  the  perennial  question,  How 
shall  music  contribute  most  effectually  to  the  ends 
which  church  worship  has  in  view  without  renouncing 
those  attributes  upon  which  its  freedom  as  fine  art 
depends  ? 

The  present  volume  is  an  attempt  to  show  how  this 
problem  has  been  treated  by  different  confessions  and  in 
different  nations  and  times ;  how  music,  in  issuing  from 
the  bosom  of  the  Church,  has  been  moulded  under  the 
influence  of  varying  ideals  of  devotion,  liturgic  usages, 
national  temperaments,  and  types  and  methods  of  ex- 
pression current  in  secular  art.  It  is  the  autlior's  chief 
purpose  and  hope  to  arouse  in  the  minds  of  ministers 
and  non-professional  lovera  of  music,  as  well  as  of  church 
musicians,  an  interest  in  this  branch  of  art  such  as  they 
cannot  feel  so  long  as  its  history  is  unknown  to  them. 


Yiii  PREFACE 

A  knowledge  of  history  always  tends  to  promote  humility 
and  reverence,  and  to  cheek  the  spread  of  capricious 
perversions  of  judgment.  Even  a  feeble  sense  of  the 
grandeur  and  beauty  of  the  forms  which  ecclesiastical 
music  has  taken,  and  the  vital  relation  which  it  has 
always  held  in  organized  worship,  will  serve  to  con- 
vince a  devoted  servant  of  the  Church  that  its  proper 
administration  is  as  much  a  matter  of  concern  to-day 
as  it  ever  has  been  in  the  past. 

A  few  of  the  chapters  in  this  work  have  appeared  in 
somewhat  modified  form  in  the  American  Catholic  Quar- 
terly Review^  the  Bihliotheca  Sacra^  and  Music.  The 
author  acknowledges  the  permission  given  by  the  editors 
of  these  magazines  to  use  this  material  in  its  present 
form. 


CONTENTS 

Chapteb  Pagb 

I.    Primitive  akd  Ancient  Religious  Mdsic  .    .  1 

II.    Ritual   and   Song    in  the   Early   Christian 

Church 36 

III.  The  Liturgy  of  the  Catholic  Church     .     .  70 

IV.  The  Ritual  Chant  of  the  Catholic  Church  92 

V.    The     Development    of     Medieval    Chorus 

Music 129 

VI.    The  Modern  Musical  Mass 182 

VII.    The  Rise  of  the  Lutheran  Hymnody  .     .     .  223 

VIII.    Rise  of  the  German  Cantata  and  Passion  .  268 

IX.    The    Culmination    of    German    Protestant 

Music  :  Johann  Sebastian  Bach  ....  283 

X.    The    Musical    System    of    the    Church    of 

England 323 

XI.    Congregational     Song     in     England     and 

America 358 

XII.    Problems  of  Church  Music  in  America  .     .  390 

Bibliography 411 

Index 417 


MUSIC  IN  THE  HISTORY 

OF  THE 

WESTERN  CHURCH 

CHAPTER   I 

PRIMITIVE   AND   ANCIENT   RELIGIOUS  MUSIC 

Leon  Gautier,  in  opening  his  history  of  the  epic 
poetry  of  France,  ascribes  the  primitive  poetic  utter- 
ance of  mankind  to  a  religious  impulse.  "Represent 
to  yourselves,"  he  says,  "the  first  man  at  the  moment 
when  he  issues  from  the  hand  of  God,  when  his  vision 
rests  for  the  first  time  upon  his  new  empire.  Imagine, 
if  it  be  possible,  the  exceeding  vividness  of  his  impres- 
sions when  the  magnificence  of  the  world  is  reflected  in 
the  mirror  of  his  soul.  Intoxicated,  almost  mad  with 
admiration,  gratitude,  and  love,  he  raises  his  eyes  to 
heaven,  not  satisfied  with  the  spectacle  of  the  earth; 
then  discovering  God  in  the  heavens,  and  attributing  to 
him  all  the  honor  of  this  magnificence  and  of  the  har- 
monies of  creation,  he  opens  his  mouth,  the  first  stam- 
merings of  speech  escape  his  lips  —  he  speaks ;  ah,  no, 
he  sings,  and  the  firet  song  of  the  lord  of  creation  will 
be  a  hymn  to  God  his  creator." 

If  the  language  of  poetical  extravagance  may  be 
admitted  into  serious  historical  composition,  we  may 
1  1 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

accept  this  theatrical  picture  as  an  allegorized  image  of 
a  truth.  Although  we  speak  no  longer  of  a  "  first  man," 
and  although  we  have  the  best  reasons  to  suppose  that 
the  earliest  vocal  efforts  of  our  anthropoid  progenitors 
were  a  softly  modulated  love  call  or  a  strident  battle  cry 
rather  than  a  sursum  corda  ;  yet  taking  for  our  point  of 
departure  that  stage  in  human  development  when  art 
properly  begins,  when  the  unpremeditated  responses 
to  simple  sensation  are  supplemented  by  the  more  stable 
and  organized  expression  of  a  soul  life  become  self- 
conscious,  then  we  certainly  do  find  that  the  earliest 
attempts  at  song  are  occasioned  by  motives  that  must 
in  strictness  be  called  religious.  The  savage  is  a 
very  religious  being.  In  all  the  relations  of  his  simple 
life  he  is  hedged  about  by  a  stiff  code  of  regulations 
whose  sanction  depends  upon  his  recognition  of  the 
presence  of  invisible  powers  and  his  duties  to  them. 
He  divines  a  mysterious  presence  as  pervasive  as  the 
atmosphere  he  breathes,  which  takes  in  his  childish 
fancy  diverse  shapes,  as  of  ghosts,  deified  ancestors, 
anthropomorphic  gods,  embodied  influences  of  sun  and 
cloud.  In  whatever  guise  these  conceptions  may  clothe 
themselves,  he  experiences  a  feeling  of  awe  which  some- 
times appears  as  abject  fear,  sometimes  as  reverence  and 
love.  The  emotions  which  the  primitive  man  feels 
under  the  pressure  of  these  ideas  are  the  most  profound 
and  persistent  of  which  he  is  capable,  and  as  they  in- 
volve notions  which  are  held  in  common  by  all  the 
members  of  the  tribe  (for  there  are  no  sceptics  or  non- 
conformists in  the  savage  community),  they  are  formu- 
lated in  elaborate  schemes  of  ceremony.     The  religious 

2 


PRIMITIVE  AND  ANCIENT  RELIGIOUS  MUSIC 

sentiment  inevitably  seeks  expression  in  the  assembly  — 
"the   means,"  as    Professor   Brinton  says,   "by  which 
that  most  potent  agent  in  religious  life,  collective  sugges- 
tion, is  brought  to  bear  upon  the  mind  "  —  the  liturgy, 
the   festival,  and  the  sacrifice.^     By  virtue  of  certain 
laws  of  the  human  mind  which  are  evident  everywhere, 
in  the  highest  civilized  condition  as  in  the  savage,  the 
religious  emotion,  intensified  by  collective  suggestion  in 
the  assembly,  will  find  expression  not  in  the  ordinary 
manner  of  thought  communication,  but  in  those  rhyth- 
mic and  inflected  movements  and  cadences  which  are  the 
natural  outlet  of  strong  mental  excitement  when  thrown 
back  upon  itself.     These  gestures  and  vocal  inflections 
become  regulated  and  systematized  in  order  that  they 
may  be  permanently  retained,  and  serve  in  their  reaction 
to  stimulate  anew  the  mental  states  by  which  they  were 
occasioned.     Singing,  dancing,  and  pantomime  compose 
the  means  by  which  uncivilized    man    throughout   the 
world  gives  expression  to  his  controlling  ideas.     The 
needed   uniformity  in  movement   and   accent  is   most 
easily  effected  by  rhythmical  beats;  and  as  these  beats 
are  more  distinctly  heard,  and  also  blend  more  agreeably 
with  the  tones  of  the  voice  if  they  are  musical  sounds, 
a  rude  form  of  instrumental  music  arises.     Here  we  have 
elements  of  public  religious  ceremony  as  they  exist  in 
the  most  highly  organized  and   spiritualized  worships, 
—  the  assemblage,  where  common  motives  produce  com- 
mon action  and  react  to  produce  a  common  mood,  the 
ritual  with    its  instrumental  music,  and  the   resulting 
sense  on  the  part  of  the  participant  of  detachment  from 

^  BrintOD,  The  Religions  of  Ancient  Peoples. 

3 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

material  interests  and  of  personal  communion  with  the 
unseen  powers. 

The  symbolic  dance  and  the  choral  chant  are  among 
the  most  primitive,  probably  the  most  primitive,  forms 
of  art.  Out  of  their  union  came  music,  poetry,  and 
dramatic  action.  Sculpture,  painting,  and  architecture 
were  stimulated  if  not  actually  created  under  the  same 
auspices,  "The  festival,"  says  Prof.  Baldwin  Brown, 
"creates  the  artist."  ^  Festivals  among  primitive  races, 
as  among  ancient  cultured  peoples,  are  all  distinctly 
religious.  Singing  and  dancing  are  inseparable.  Vocal 
music  is  a  sort  of  chant,  adopted  because  of  its  nerve- 
exciting  property,  and  also  for  the  sake  of  enabling  a 
mass  of  participants  to  utter  the  words  in  unison  where 
intelligible  words  are  used.  A  separation  of  caste  be- 
tween priesthood  and  laity  is  effected  in  very  early 
times.  The  ritual  becomes  a  form  of  magical  incanta- 
tion ;  the  utterance  of  the  wizard,  prophet,  or  priest  con- 
sists of  phrases  of  mysterious  meaning  or  incoherent 
ejaculations. 

The  prime  feature  in  the  earlier  forms  of  worship  is 
the  dance.  It  held  also  a  prominent  place  in  the  rites 
of  the  ancient  cultured  nations,  and  lingers  in  dim 
reminiscence  in  the  processions  and  altar  ceremonies  of 
modern  liturgical  worship.  Its  function  was  as  impor- 
tant as  that  of  music  in  the  modern  Church,  and  its 
effect  was  in  many  ways  closely  analogous.  When  con- 
nected with  worship,  the  dance  is  employed  to  produce 
that  condition  of  mental  exhihiration  which  accompanies 
the  expenditure  of  surplus  phj-sical  energy,  or  as  a  mode 

^  Brown,  The  Fine  Arts. 

4 


PRIMITIVE  AND  ANCIENT  RELIGIOUS  MUSIC 

of  symbolic,  semi-dramatic  expression  of  definite  reli- 
gious ideas.  "The  audible  and  visible  manifestations 
of  joy,"  says  Herbert  Spencer,  "which  culminate  in 
singing  and  dancing,  have  their  roots  in  instinctive 
actions  like  those  of  lively  children  who,  on  seeing  in 
the  distance  some  indulgent  relative,  run  up  to  him, 
joining  one  another  in  screams  of  delight  and  breaking 
their  run  with  leaps ;  and  when,  instead  of  an  indulgent 
relative  met  by  joyful  children,  we  have  a  conquering 
chief  or  king  met  by  groups  of  his  people,  there  will 
almost  certainly  occur  saltatory  and  vocal  expressions 
of  elated  feeling,  and  these  must  become  by  implication 
signs  of  respect  and  loyalty,  — ascriptions  of  worth 
which,  raised  to  a  higher  power,  become  worship."* 
Illustrations  of  such  motives  in  the  sacred  dance  are 
found  in  the  festive  procession  of  women,  led  by 
Miriam,  after  the  overthrow  of  the  Egyptians,  the 
dance  of  David  before  the  ark,  and  the  dance  of  the  boy 
Sophocles  around  the  trophi6s  of  Salamis.  But  the 
sacred  dance  is  by  no  means  confined  to  the  discharge 
of  physical  energy  under  the  promptings  of  joy.  The 
funeral  dance  is  one  of  the  most  frequent  of  such  obser- 
vances, and  dread  of  divine  wrath  and  the  hope  of  pro- 
pitiation by  means  of  rites  pleasing  to  the  offended 
power  form  a  frequent  occasion  for  rhythmic  evolution 
and  violent  bodily  demonstration. 

Far  more  commonly,  however,  does  the  sacred  dance 
assume  a  representative  character  and  become  a  rudi- 
mentary drama,  either  imitative  or  emblematic.  It 
depicts  the  doings  of  the  gods,  often  under  the  supposi- 

l  Spencer,  Professional  Institutions :  Dancer  and  Musician. 

5 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

tion  that  the  divinities  are  aided  by  the  sympathetic 
efforts  of  their  devotees.  Certain  mysteries,  known 
only  to  the  initiated,  are  symbolized  in  bodily  movement. 
The  fact  that  the  dance  was  symbolic  and  instructive, 
like  the  sacrificial  rite  itself,  enables  us  to  understand 
why  dancing  should  have  held  such  prominence  in  the 
worship  of  nations  so  grave  and  intelligent  as  the  Egyp- 
tians, Hebrews,  and  Greeks.  Representations  of  reli- 
gious processions  and  dances  are  found  upon  the 
monuments  of  Egypt  and  Assyria.  The  Egyptian 
peasant,  when  gathering  his  harvest,  sacrificed  the  first 
fruits,  and  danced  to  testify  his  thankfulness  to  the 
gods.  The  priests  represented  in  their  dances  the 
course  of  the  stars  and  scenes  from  the  histories  of  Osiris 
and  Isis.  The  dance  of  the  Israelites  in  the  desert 
around  the  golden  calf  was  probably  a  reproduction  of 
features  of  the  Egyptian  Apis  worship.  The  myths  of 
many  ancient  nations  represent  the  gods  as  dancing,  and 
supposed  imitations  of  such  august  examples  had  a  place 
in  the  ceremonies  devoted  to  their  honor.  The  dance 
was  always  an  index  of  the  higher  or  lower  nature  of  the 
religious  conceptions  which  fostered  it.  Among  the 
purer  and  more  elevated  worships  it  was  full  of  grace 
and  dignity.  In  the  sensuous  cults  of  Phoenicia  and 
Lydia,  and  among  the  later  Greek  votaries  of  Cybele 
and  Dionysus,  the  dance  reflected  the  fears  and  passions 
that  issued  in  bloody,  obscene,  and  frenzied  rites,  and 
degenerated  into  almost  incredible  spectacles  of  wanton- 
ness and  riot. 

It  was  among  the  Greeks,  however,  that  the  religious 
dance  developed  its  highest  possibilities  of  expressive- 

6 


PRIMITIVE  AND  ANCIENT  RELIGIOUS  MUSIC 

ness  and  beauty,  and  became  raised  to  the  dignity  of  a 
fine  art.  The  admiration  of  the  Greeks  for  the  human 
form,  their  unceasing  effort  to  develop  its  symmetry, 
strength,  and  grace,  led  them  early  to  perceive  that  it 
was  in  itself  an  efficient  means  for  the  expression  of  the 
soul,  and  that  its  movements  and  attitudes  could  work 
sympathetically  upon  the  fancy.  The  dance  was  there- 
fore cultivated  as  a  coequal  with  music  and  poetry; 
educators  inculcated  it  as  indispensable  to  the  higher 
discipline  of  youth ;  it  was  commended  by  philosophers 
and  celebrated  by  poets.  It  held  a  prominent  place  in 
the  public  games,  in  processions  and  celebrations,  in  the 
mysteries,  and  in  public  religious  ceremonies.  Every 
form  of  worship,  from  the  frantic  orgies  of  the  drunken 
devotees  of  Dionysus  to  the  pure  and  tranquil  adoration 
offered  to  Phoebus  Apollo,  consisted  to  a  large  extent 
of  dancing.  Andrew  Lang's  remark  in  regard  to  the 
connection  between  dancing  and  religious  solemnity 
among  savages  would  apply  also  to  the  Hellenic  sacred 
dance,  that  "  to  dance  this  or  that  means  to  be  acquainted 
with  this  or  that  myth,  which  is  represented  in  a  dance 
or  ballet  cf action.'''' '^  Among  the  favorite  subjects  for 
pantomimic  representation,  united  with  choral  singing, 
were  the  combat  between  Apollo  and  the  dragon  and 
the  sorrows  of  Dionysus,  the  commemoration  of  the 
latter  forming  the  origin  of  the  splendid  Athenian 
drama.  The  ancient  dance,  it  must  be  remembered, 
had  as  its  motive  the  expression  of  a  wide  range  of 
emotion,  and  could  be  employed  to  symbolize  senti- 
ments   of    wonder,    love,    and    gratitude.      Regularly 

^  Laug,  Myth,  Ritual,  and  Religion. 
7 


MUSIC  IN   THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

ordered  movements,  often  accompanied  by  gesture,  could 
well  have  a  place  in  religious  ceremony,  as  the  gods  and 
their  relations  to  mankind  were  then  conceived;  and 
moreover,  at  a  time  when  music  was  in  a  crude  state, 
rhythmic  evolutions  and  expressive  gestures,  refined 
and  moderated  by  the  exquisite  sense  of  proportion 
native  to  the  Greek  mind,  undoubtedly  had  a  solemniz- 
ing effect  upon  the  participants  and  beholders  not  unlike 
that  of  music  in  modern  Christian  worship.  Cultivated 
as  an  art  under  the  name  of  orchestiky  the  mimic  dance 
reached  a  degree  of  elegance  and  emotional  significance 
to  which  modern  times  afford  no  proper  parallel.  It 
was  not  unworthy  of  the  place  it  held  in  the  society  of 
poetry  and  music,  with  which  it  combined  to  form  that 
composite  art  which  filled  so  high  a  station  in  Greek 
culture  in  the  golden  age. 

The  Hellenic  dance,  both  religious  and  theatric,  was 
adopted  by  the  Romans,  but,  like  so  much  that  was 
noble  in  Greek  art,  only  to  be  degraded  in  the  transfer. 
It  passed  over  into  the  Christian  Church,  like  many 
other  ceremonial  practices  of  heathenism,  but  modified 
and  by  no  means  of  general  observance.  It  appeared 
on  occasions  of  thanksgiving  and  celebrations  of  im- 
portant events  in  the  Church's  history.  The  priest 
would  often  lead  the  dance  around  the  altar  on  Sundays 
and  festal  days.  The  Christians  sometimes  gathered 
about  the  church  doors  at  night  and  danced  and  sang 
songs.  There  is  nothing  in  these  facts  derogatory  to 
the  piety  of  the  early  Christians.  They  simply  ex- 
pressed their  joy  according  to  the  universal  fashion  of 
the  age;    and  especially  on  those  occasions  which,  as 

8 


PRIMITIVE  AND  ANCIENT  RELIGIOUS   MUSIC 

for  instance  Christmas,  were  adaptations  of  old  pagan 
festivals,  they  naturally  imitated  many  of  the  time- 
honored  observances.  The  Christian  dance,  however, 
finally  degenerated;  certain  features,  such  as  the  noc- 
turnal festivities,  gave  rise  to  scandal;  the  church 
authorities  began  to  condemn  them,  and  the  rising  spirit 
of  asceticism  drove  them  into  disfavor.  The  dance  was 
a  dangerous  reminder  of  the  heathen  worship  with  all 
its  abominations ;  and  since  many  pagan  beliefs  and  cus- 
toms, with  attendant  immoralities,  lingered  for  centuries 
as  a  seductive  snare  to  the  weaker  brethren,  the  Church 
bestirred  itself  to  eliminate  all  perilous  associations  from 
religious  ceremony  and  to  arouse  a  love  for  an  absorbed 
and  spiritual  worship.  During  the  Middle  Age,  and 
even  in  comparatively  recent  times  in  Spain  and  Spanish 
America,  we  find  survivals  of  the  ancient  religious 
dance  in  the  Christian  Church,  but  in  the  more  enlight- 
ened countries  it  has  practically  ceased  to  exist.  The 
Christian  religion  is  more  truly  joyful  than  the  Greek; 
yet  the  Christian  devotee,  even  in  his  most  confident 
moments,  no  longer  feels  inclined  to  give  vent  to  his 
happiness  in  physical  movements,  for  there  is  mingled 
with  his  rapture  a  sentiment  of  awe  and  submission 
which  bids  him  adore  but  be  still.  Religious  proces- 
sions are  frequent  in  Christian  countries,  but  the  par- 
ticipants do  not,  like  the  Egyptians  and  Greeks,  dance 
as  they  go.  We  find  even  in  ancient  times  isolated 
opinions  that  pul)lic  dancing  is  indecorous.  Only  in  a 
naive  and  childlike  stage  of  society  will  dancing  as  a 
feature  of  worship  seem  appropriate  and  innocent.  As 
reflection  increases,  the  unrestrained  and   conspicuous 

9 


MUSIC  IN  THE   WESTERN  CHURCH 

manifestation  of  feeling  in  shouts  and  violent  bodily 
movements  is  deemed  unworthy;  a  more  spiritual  con- 
ception of  the  nature  of  the  heavenly  power  and  man's 
relation  to  it  requires  that  forms  of  worship  should 
become  more  refined  and  moderate.  Even  the  secular 
dance  has  lost  much  of  its  ancient  dignity  from  some- 
what similar  reasons,  partly  also  because  the  differentia- 
tion and  high  development  of  music,  taking  the  place 
of  dancing  as  a  social  art,  has  relegated  the  latter  to  the 
realm  of  things  outgrown,  which  no  longer  minister  to 
man's  intellectual  necessities. 

As  we  turn  to  the  subject  of  music  in  ancient  religious 
rites,  we  find  that  where  the  dance  had  ali-eady  reached 
a  high  degree  of  artistic  development,  music  was  still 
in  dependent  infancy.  The  only  promise  of  its  splendid 
future  was  in  the  reverence  already  accorded  to  it,  and 
the  universality  of  its  use  in  prayer  and  praise.  On  its 
vocal  side  it  was  used  to  add  solemnity  to  the  words 
of  the  officiating  priest,  forming  the  intonation,  or 
ecclesiastical  accent,  which  has  been  an  inseparable 
feature  of  liturgical  worship  in  all  periods.  So  far  as 
the  people  had  a  share  in  religious  functions,  vocal  music 
was  employed  by  them  in  hymns  to  the  gods,  or  in  re- 
sponsive refrains.  In  its  instrumental  form  it  was  used 
to  assist  the  singers  to  preserve  the  correct  pitch  and 
rhythm,  to  regulate  the  steps  of  the  dance,  or,  in  an 
independent  capacity,  to  act  upon  the  nerves  of  the 
worshipers  and  increase  their  sense  of  awe  in  the 
presence  of  the  deity.  It  is  the  nervous  excitement 
produced  by  certain  kinds  of  musical  performance  that 
accounts  for  the  fact  that  incantations,  exorcisms,  and 

10 


PRIMITIVE  AND  ANCIENT  RELIGIOUS  MUSIC 

the  ceremonies  of  demon  worship  among  savages  and 
barbarians  are  accompanied  by  harsh-sounding  instru- 
ments ;  that  tortures,  executions,  and  human  sacrifices, 
such  as  those  of  the  ancient  Phcenicians  and  Mexicans, 
were  attended  by  the  clamor  of  drums,  trumpets,  and 
cymbals.  Even  in  the  Hebrew  temple  service  the  blasts 
of  horns  and  trumpets  could  have  had  no  other  purpose 
than  that  of  intensifying  emotions  of  awe  and  dread. 

Still  another  office  of  music  in  ancient  ceremony, 
perhaps  still  more  valued,  was  that  of  suggesting  defi- 
nite ideas  by  means  of  an  associated  symbolism.  In 
certain  occult  observances,  such  as  those  of  the  Egyp- 
tians and  Hindus,  relationships  were  imagined  between 
instruments  or  melodies  and  religious  or  moral  concep- 
tions, so  that  the  melody  or  random  tone  of  the  instru- 
ment indicated  to  the  initiate  the  associated  principle, 
and  thus  came  to  have  an  imputed  sanctity  of  its  own. 
This  symbolism  could  be  employed  to  recall  to  the  mind 
ethical  precepts  or  religious  tenets  at  solemn  moments, 
and  tone  could  become  a  doubly  powerful  agent  by 
uniting  the  effect  of  vivid  ideas  to  its  inherent  property 
of  nerve  excitement. 

Our  knowledge  of  the  uses  of  music  among  the  most 
ancient  nations  is  chiefly  confined  to  its  function  in 
religious  ceremony.  All  ancient  worship  was  ritualistic 
and  administered  by  a  priesthood,  and  the  liturgies  and 
ceremonial  rites  were  intimately  associated  with  music. 
The  oldest  literatures  that  have  survived  contain  hymns 
to  the  gods,  and  upon  the  most  ancient  monuments 
are  traced  representations  of  instruments  and  players. 
Among  the  literary  records  discovered  on  the  site  of 

11 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

Nineveh  are  collections  of  hymns,  prayers,  and  peniten- 
tial psalms,  addressed  to  the  Assyrian  deities,  designed, 
as  expressly  stated,  for  public  worship,  and  Avhich  Pro- 
fessor Sayce  compares  to  the  English  Book  of  Common 
Prayer.  On  the  Assyrian  monuments  are  carved  reliefs 
of  instrumental  players,  sometimes  single,  sometimes  in 
groups  of  considerable  numbers.  Allusions  in  tlie 
Bible  indicate  that  the  Assyrians  employed  music  on 
festal  occasions,  that  hymns  to  the  gods  were  sung  at 
banquets  and  dirges  at  funerals.  The  kings  main- 
tained bands  at  their  courts,  and  provided  a  considerable 
variety  of  instruments  for  use  in  the  idol  worship.^ 

There  is  abundant  evidence  that  music  was  an  im- 
portant factor  in  the  religious  rites  of  Egypt.  The  tes- 
timony of  carved  and  painted  walls  of  tombs  and 
temples,  the  papyrus  records,  the  accounts  of  visitors, 
inform  us  that  music  was  in  Egypt  preeminently  a 
sacred  art,  as  it  must  needs  have  been  in  a  land  in 
which,  as  llanke  says,  there  was  nothing  secular. 
Music  was  in  the  care  of  the  priests,  who  jealously 
guarded  the  sacred  hymns  and  melodies  from  innovation 
and  foreign  intrusion. ^  In  musical  science,  knowledge 
of  the  divisions  of  the  monocluu-d,  systems  of  keys, 
notation,  etc.,  the  Egyptians  were  probably  in  advance 

1  A  full  account  of  ancient  Assyrian  music,  so  far  as  known,  may  bo 
found  in  Kngfl's  Music  of  the  Most  Ancient  Nations. 

^  "Long  ago  they  [tlie  Egy])tians]  a])])ear  to  have  recognized  tlie  prin- 
ciple that  their  young  citizens  must  he  liahituated  to  forms  and  strains  of 
virtue.  These  tliey  fixed,  and  exliihited  tiie  patterns  of  them  in  their 
temples  ;  and  no  painter  or  artist  is  allowed  to  innovate  upon  them,  or  to 
leave  the  traditional  forms  and  invent  new  ones.  To  this  day  no  altera- 
tion is  allowed  either  in  these  arts,  or  in  music  at  all."  —  Vla,to,  Laws, 
Book  II.,  Jowett's  translation. 

12 


PRIMITIVE  AND  ANCIENT  RELIGIOUS  MUSIC 

of  all  other  nations.  The  Greeks  certainly  derived 
much  of  their  musical  practice  from  the  dwellers  on  the 
Nile.  They  possessed  an  extensive  variety  of  instru- 
ments, from  the  little  tinkling  sistrum  up  to  the  pro- 
fusely ornamented  harp  of  twelve  or  thirteen  strings, 
which  towered  above  the  performer.  From  such  an 
instrument  as  the  latter  it  would  seem  as  though  some 
kind  of  harmony  must  have  been  produced,  especially 
since  the  player  is  represented  as  using  botli  hands. 
But  if  such  were  the  case,  the  harmony  could  not  have 
been  reduced  to  a  scientific  system,  since  otherwise  a 
usage  so  remarkable  would  not  have  escaped  the  atten- 
tion of  the  Greek  musicians  who  derived  so  much  of 
their  art  from  Egypt.  Music  never  failed  at  public  or 
private  festivity,  religious  ceremony,  or  funeral  rite. 
As  in  all  ancient  religions,  processions  to  the  temples, 
carrying  images  of  the  gods  and  offerings,  were  attended 
by  dances  and  vocal  and  instrumental  performances. 
Lyrical  poems,  containing  the  praises  of  gods  and 
heroes,  were  sung  at  public  ceremonies;  hymns  were 
addressed  to  the  rising  and  setting  sun,  to  Ammon  and 
the  other  gods.  According  to  Chappell,  the  custom  of 
carolling  or  singing  without  words,  like  birds,  to  the 
gods  existed  among  the  Egyptians,  —  a  practice  which 
was  imitated  by  the  Greeks,  from  whom  tlie  custom  was 
transferred  to  the  Western  Church.^  The  chief  instru 
ment  of  the  temple  worship  was  the  sistrum,  and  con- 
nected with  all  the  temples  in  the  time  of  the  New 
Empire  were  companies  of  female  sistrum  players  who 
stood  in  symbolic  relations  to  the  god  as  inmates  of  his 

1  Chappell,  History  of  Music. 
13 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

harem,  holding  various  degrees  of  rank.     These  women 
received  high  honors,  often  of  a  political  nature.* 

In  spite  of  the  simplicity  and  frequent  coarseness  of 
ancient  music,  the  older  nations  ascribed  to  it  an  influ- 
ence over  the  moral  nature  which  the  modern  music 
lover  would  never  think  of  attributing  to  his  highly 
developed  art.  They  referred  its  invention  to  the  gods, 
and  imputed  to  it  thaumaturgical  properties.  The 
Hebrews  were  the  only  ancient  cultivated  nation  that 
did  not  assign  to  music  a  superhuman  source.  The 
Greek  myths  of  Orpheus,  Amphion,  and  Arion  are  but 
samples  of  hundreds  of  marvellous  tales  of  musical 
effect  that  have  place  in  primitive  legends.  This  belief 
in  the  magical  power  of  music  was  connected  with  the 
equally  universal  opinion  that  music  in  itself  could 
express  and  arouse  definite  notions  and  passions,  and 
could  exert  a  direct  moral  or  immoral  influence.  The 
importance  ascribed  by  the  Greeks  to  music  in  the  edu- 
cation of  youth,  as  emphatically  affirmed  by  philosophers 
and  law-givers,  is  based  upon  this  belief.  Not  only 
particular  melodies,  but  the  different  modes  or  keys 
were  held  by  the  Greeks  to  exert  a  positive  influence 
upon  character.  The  Dorian  mode  was  considered 
bold  and  manly,  inspiring  valor  and  fortitude;  the 
Lydian,  weak  and  enervating.  Plato,  in  the  second 
book  of  the  Laws^  condemns  as  "intolerable  and  blas- 
phemous "  the  opinion  that  the  purpose  of  music  is  to 
give  pleasure.  He  finds  a  direct  relation  between 
morality  and  certain  forms  of  music,  and  would  have 
musicians   constrained  to  compose  only  such  melodies 

1  Erman,  Life  in  Ancient  Egypt,  translated  by  Tirard. 

u 


PRIMITIVE  AND  ANCIENT  RELIGIOUS  MUSIC 

and  rhythms  as  would  turn  the  plastic  mind  toward 
virtue.  Plutarch,  in  his  discourse  concerning  music 
in  his  Morals^  says:  "The  ancient  Greeks  deemed  it 
requisite  by  the  assistance  of  music  to  form  and  com- 
pose the  minds  of  youth  to  what  was  decent,  sober,  and 
virtuous;  believing  the  use  of  music  beneficially  effica- 
cious to  incite  to  all  serious  actions."  He  even  goes 
so  far  as  to  say  that  "  the  right  moulding  of  ingenuous 
manners  and  civil  conduct  lies  in  a  well-grounded  musi- 
cal education."  Assumptions  of  direct  moral,  intellec- 
tual, and  even  pathological  action  on  the  part  of  music, 
as  distinct  from  an  aesthetic  appeal,  are  so  abundant  in 
ancient  writings  that  we  cannot  dismiss  them  as  mere 
fanciful  hyperbole,  but  must  admit  that  music  really 
possessed  a  power  over  the  emotions  and  volitions  which 
has  been  lost  in  its  later  evolution.  The  explanation  of 
this  apparent  anomaly  probably  lies,  first,  in  the  fact 
that  music  in  antiquity  was  not  a  free  independent  art, 
and  that  when  the  philosophers  speak  of  music  they 
think  of  it  in  its  associations  with  poetry,  religious  and 
patriotic  observances,  moral  and  legal  precepts,  historic 
relations,  etc.  Music,  on  its  vocal  side,  was  mere  em- 
phasized speech  inflection ;  it  was  a  slave  to  poetry ;  it 
had  no  rhythmical  laws  of  its  own.  The  melody  did  not 
convey  aesthetic  charm  in  itself  alone,  but  simply  height- 
ened the  sensuous  effect  of  measured  speech  and  vivi- 
fied the  thought.  Mr.  Spencer's  well-known  expression 
that  "cadence  is  the  comment  of  the  emotion  upon  the 
propositions  of  the  intellect"  would  apply  very  accu- 
rately to  the  musical  theories  of  the  ancients.  Certain 
modes   (that   is,  keys),  on  account  of   convenience  of 

15 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

pitch,  were  employed  for  certain  kinds  of  poetical  ex- 
pression ;  and  as  a  poem  was  always  chanted  in  the  mode 
that  was  first  assigned  to  it,  particular  classes  of  ideas 
would  come  to  be  identified  with  particular  modes. 
Associations  of  race  character  would  lead  to  similar 
interpretation.  The  Dorian  mode  would  seem  to  partake 
of  the  sternness  and  vigor  of  the  warlike  Dorian  Spar- 
tans; the  Lydian  mode  and  its  melodies  would  hint  of 
Lydian  effeminacy.^  Instrumental  music  also  was 
equally  restricted  to  definite  meanings  through  associa- 
tion. It  was  an  accompaniment  to  poetry,  bound  up 
with  the  symbolic  dance,  subordinated  to  formal  social 
observances;  it  produced  not  the  artistic  effect  of 
melody,  harmony,  and  form,  but  the  nervous  stimulation 
of  crude  unorganized  tone,  acting  upon  recipients  who 
had  never  learned  to  consider  music  as  anything  but  a 
direct  emotional  excitant  or  an  intensifier  of  previously 
conceived  ideas. 

Another  explanation  of  the  ancient  view  of  music  as 
possessing  a  controlling  power  over  emotion,  thought, 
and  conduct  lies  in  the  fact  that  music  existed  only 
in  its  rude  primal  elements;  antiquity  in  its  concep- 
tion and  use  of  music  never  passed  far  beyond  that 
point  where  tone  was  the  outcome  of  simple  emotional 
states,  and  to  which  notions  of  precise  intellectual 
significance  still  clung.  Whatever  theory  of  the  origin 
of  music  may  finally  prevail,  there  can  be  no  question 
that  music  in  its  primitive  condition  is  more  directly 
the  outcome  of  clearly  realized  feeling  than  it  is  when 
developed  into  a  free,  intellectualized,  and  heterogeneous 

^  See  Plato,  Republic,  book  iii. 
16 


PRIMITIVE  AND  ANCIENT  RELIGIOUS  MUSIC 

art  form.  Music,  the  more  it  rises  into  an  art,  the 
more  it  exerts  a  purely  testhetic  effect  through  its  action 
upon  intelligences  that  delight  in  form,  organization, 
and  ideal  motion,  loses  in  equal  proportion  the  emotional 
definiteness  that  exists  in  simple  and  spontaneous  tone 
inflections.  The  earliest  reasoning  on  the  rationale  of 
musical  effects  always  takes  for  granted  that  music's 
purpose  is  to  convey  exact  ideas,  or  at  least  express 
definite  emotion.  Music  did  not  advance  so  far  among 
the  ancients  that  they  were  able  to  escape  from  this 
naturalistic  conception.  They  could  conceive  of  no 
higher  purpose  in  music  than  to  move  the  mind  in  defi- 
nite directions,  and  so  they  maintained  that  it  always 
did  so.  Even  in  modern  life  numberless  instances  prove 
that  the  music  which  exerts  the  greatest  effect  over  the 
impulses  is  not  the  mature  and  complex  art  of  the  mas- 
ters, but  the  simple  strains  which  emanate  from  the 
people  and  bring  up  recollections  which  in  themselves 
alone  have  power  to  stir  the  heart.  Tlie  song  that  melts 
a  congregation  to  tears,  the  patiiotic  air  that  fires  the 
enthusiasm  of  an  asscmbl}'  on  the  eve  of  a  political 
crisis,  the  strain  that  nerves  an  army  to  desperate 
endeavor,  is  not  an  elaborate  work  of  art,  but  a  simple 
and  obvious  tune,  which  finds  its  real  force  in  associa- 
tion. All  this  is  especially  true  of  music  employed  for 
religious  ends,  and  we  find  in  such  facts  a  reason  why 
it  could  make  no  j)rogre.ss  in  ancient  times,  certainly 
none  where  it  was  under  the  control  of  an  organized 
social  caste.  For  the  priestly  order  is  always  conserva- 
tive, and  in  antiquity  this  conservatism  petrified  melody, 
at  the  same  time  with  the  rites  to  which  it  adhered,  into 
2  17 


MUSIC  /iV  THE  WESTERN  CHURCH 

stereotyped  formulas.  Where  music  is  bound  up  with 
a  ritual,  innovation  in  the  one  is  discountenanced  as 
tending  to  loosen  the  traditional  strictness  of  the  other. 

I  have  laid  stress  upon  this  point  because  this  attempt 
of  the  religious  authorities  in  antiquity  to  repress  music 
in  worship  to  a  subsidiary  function  was  the  sign  of  a 
conception  of  music  which  has  always  been  more  or  less 
active  in  the  Church,  down  even  to  our  own  day.  As 
soon  as  musical  art  reaches  a  certain  stage  of  develop- 
ment it  strives  to  emancipate  itself  from  the  thraldom 
of  word  and  visible  action,  and  to  exalt  itself  for  its 
own  undivided  glory.  Strict  religionists  have  always 
looked  upon  this  tendency  with  suspicion,  and  have 
often  strenuously  opposed  it,  seeing  in  the  sensuous 
fascinations  of  the  art  an  obstacle  to  complete  absorp- 
tion in  spiritual  concerns.  The  conflict  between  the 
devotional  and  the  aesthetic  principles,  which  has  been 
so  active  in  the  history  of  worship  music  in  modern 
times,  never  appeared  in  antiquity  except  in  the  later 
period  of  Greek  art.  Since  this  outbreak  of  the  spirit 
of  rebellion  occurred  only  when  Hellenic  religion  was 
no  longer  a  force  in  civilization,  its  results  were  felt 
only  in  the  sphere  of  secular  music;  but  no  progress 
resulted,  for  musical  culture  was  soon  assumed  every- 
where by  the  Christian  Church,  which  for  a  thousand 
years  succeeded  in  restraining  music  within  the  antique 
conception  of  bondage  to  liturgy  and  ceremony. 

Partly  as  a  result  of  this  subjection  of  music  by  its 
allied  powers,  partly,  perhaps,  as  a  cause,  a  science  of 
harmony  was  never  developed  in  ancient  times.  That 
music  was  always  performed  in  unison  and  octaves,  as 

18 


PRIMITIVE  AND  ANCIENT  RELIGIOUS  MUSIC 

has  been  generally  believed,  is,  however,  not  probable. 
In  view  of  the  fact  that  the  Egyptians  possessed  harps 
over  six  feet  in  height,  having  twelve  or  thirteen  strings, 
and  played  with  both  hands,  and  that  the  monuments  of 
Assyria  and  Egypt  and  the  records  of  musical  practice 
among  the  Hebrews,  Greeks,  and  other  nations  show  us 
a  large  variety  of  instruments  grouped  in  bands  of  con- 
siderable size,  we  are  justified  in  supposing  that  com- 
binations of  different  sounds  were  often  produced.  But 
the  absence  from  the  ancient  treatises  of  any  but  the 
most  vague  and  obscure  allusions  to  the  production  of 
accordant  tones,  and  the  conclusive  evidence  in  respect 
to  the  general  lack  of  freedom  and  development  in  musi- 
cal art,  is  proof  positive  that,  whatever  concords  of 
sounds  may  have  been  occasionally  produced,  nothing 
comparable  to  our  present  contrapuntal  and  harmonic 
system  existed.  The  music  so  extravagantly  praised  in 
antiquity  was,  vocally,  chant,  or  recitative,  ordinarily  in 
a  single  part;  instrumental  music  was  rude  and  unsys- 
tematized sound,  partly  a  mechanical  aid  to  the  voice 
and  the  dance  step,  partly  a  means  of  nervous  exhilara- 
tion. The  modern  conception  of  music  as  a  free,  self- 
assertive  art,  subject  only  to  its  own  laws,  lifting  the 
soul  into  regions  of  pure  contemplation,  where  all  tem- 
poral relations  are  lost  in  a  tide  of  self-forgetful  rap- 
ture, —  this  was  a  conception  unknown  to  the  mind  of 
antiquity. 

The  student  of  the  music  of  the  Christian  Church 
naturally  turns  with  curiosity  to  that  one  of  the  ancient 
nations  whose  religion  was  the  antecedent  of  the  Chris- 

19 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

tian,  and  whose  sacred  literature  has  furnished  the 
worship  of  the  Church  with  the  loftiest  expression  of 
its  trust  and  aspiration.  The  music  of  the  Hebrews, 
as  Ambros  says,  "was  divine  service,  not  art."^  Many 
modern  writers  have  assumed  a  high  degree  of  perfection 
in  ancient  Hebrew  music,  but  only  on  sentimental 
grounds,  not  because  there  is  any  evidence  to  support 
such  an  opinion.  There  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that 
music  was  further  developed  among  the  Hebrews  than 
among  tlie  most  cultivated  of  their  neighbors.  Their 
music,  like  that  of  the  ancient  nations  generally,  was 
entirely  subsidiary  to  poetic  recitation  and  dancing;  it 
was  unharmonic,  simple,  and  inclined  to  be  coarse  and 
noisy.  Although  in  general  use,  music  never  attained 
so  great  honor  among  them  as  it  did  among  the  Greeks. 
We  find  in  the  Scriptures  no  praises  of  music  as  a  nour- 
isher  of  morality,  rarely  a  trace  of  an  ascription  of 
magical  properties.  Although  it  had  a  place  in  mili- 
tary operations  and  at  feasts,  private  merry-makings, 
etc.,  its  chief  value  lay  in  its  availability  for  religious 
purposes.  To  the  Hebrews  the  arts  obtained  signifi- 
cance only  as  they  could  be  used  to  adorn  the  courts  of 
Jehovah,  or  could  be  employed  in  the  ascription  of 
praise  to  him.  Music  was  to  them  an  efiicient  agent  to 
excite  emotions  of  awe,  or  to  carry  more  directly  to  the 
heart  the  rhapsodies  and  searching  admonitions  of  psalm- 
ists and  prophets. 

No  authentic  melodies  have  come  down  to  us  from  tlie 
time  of  the  Israelitish  residence  in  Palestine.  No  trea- 
tise on  Hebrew  musical  theory  or  practice,  if  any  such 

^  Ambros,  Geschichte  der  Musik, 
20 


PRIMITIVE  AND  ANCIENT  RELIGIOUS  MUSIC 

ever  existed,  has  been  preserved.  No  definite  light  is 
thrown  upon  the  Hebrew  musical  system  by  the  Bible 
or  any  other  ancient  book.  We  may  be  certain  that  if 
the  Hebrews  had  possessed  anything  distinctive,  or  far 
in  advance  of  the  practice  of  their  contemporaries,  some 
testimony  to  that  effect  would  be  found.  All  evidence 
and  analogy  indicate  that  the  Hebrew  song  was  a  unison 
chant  or  cantillation,  more  or  less  melodious,  and  suffi- 
ciently definite  to  be  perpetuated  by  tradition,  but 
entirely  subordinate  to  poetry,  in  rhythm  following  the 
accent  and  metre  of  the  text. 

We  are  not  so  much  in  the  dark  in  respect  to  the  use 
and  nature  of  Hebrew  instruments,  although  we  know 
as  little  of  the  style  of  music  that  was  performed  upon 
them.  Our  knowledge  of  the  instruments  themselves 
is  derived  from  those  represented  upon  the  monuments 
of  Assyria  and  Egypt,  which  were  evidently  similar  to 
those  used  by  the  Hebrews.  The  Hebrews  never  in- 
vented a  musical  instrument.  Not  one  in  use  among 
them  but  had  its  equivalent  among  nations  older  in  civi- 
lization. And  so  we  may  infer  that  the  entire  musical 
practice  of  the  Hebrews  was  derived  first  from  their 
early  neighbors  the  Chaldeans,  and  later  from  the  Egyp- 
tians ;  although  we  may  suppose  that  some  modifications 
may  have  arisen  after  they  became  an  independent 
nation.  The  first  mention  of  musical  instruments  in 
the  Bible  is  in  Gen.  iv.  21,  where  Jubal  is  spoken  of  as 
"  the  father  of  all  such  as  handle  the  kinnor  and  ugah  " 
(translated  in  the  revised  version  "harp  and  pipe"). 
The  word  kinnor  appears  frequently  in  the  later  books, 
and  is  applied  to  the  instrument  used  by  David.     This 

21 


MUSIC  IN  THE   WESTERN  CHURCH 

hinnor  of  David  and  the  psalmists  was  a  small  portable 
instrument  and  might  properly  be  called  a  lyre.  Stringed 
instruments  are  usually  the  last  to  be  developed  by 
primitive  peoples,  and  the  use  of  the  kinnor  implies  a 
considerable  degree  of  musical  advancement  among  the 
remote  ancestors  of  the  Hebrew  race  in  their  primeval 
Chaldean  home.  The  word  ugah  may  signify  either  a 
single  tube  like  the  flute  or  oboe,  or  a  connected  series 
of  pipes  like  the  Pan's  pipes  or  syrinx  of  the  Greeks. 
There  is  only  one  other  mention  of  instruments  before 
the  Exodus,  viz.^  in  connection  with  the  episode  of 
Laban  and  Jacob,  where  the  former  asks  his  son-in-law 
reproachfully,  "  Wherefore  didst  thou  flee  secretly,  and 
steal  away  from  me ;  and  didst  not  tell  me,  that  I  might 
have  sent  thee  away  with  mirth  and  with  songs,  with 
toph  and  kinnor?"^  —  the  toph  being  a  sort  of  small 
hand  drum  or  tambourine. 

After  the  Exodus  other  instruments,  perhaps  derived 
from  Egypt,  make  their  appearance:  the  shophar,  or 
curved  tube  of  metal  or  ram's  horn,  heard  amid  the 
smoke  and  thunderings  of  Mt.  Sinai, '^  and  to  whose 
sound  the  walls  of  Jericho  were  overthrown ;  ^  the  hazo' 
zerah^  or  long  silver  tube,  used  in  the  desert  for  an- 
nouncing the  time  for  breaking  camp,*  and  employed 
later  by  the  priests  in  religious  service,^  popular  gather- 
ings, and  sometimes  in  war.^  The  nehel  was  either  a 
harp  somewhat  larger  than  the  kinnor^  or  possibly  a  sort 
of  guitar.     The  chalil^  translated  in  the  English  version 

^  Gen.  xxxi.  27.  *  Num.  x.  2-8. 

»  Ex.  xix.  6  2  Chron.  v.  12,  13 ;  xxix.  26-28. 

'  Jos.  vi.  '2  Chron.  xiii.  12,  14. 

22 


PRIMITIVE  AND  ANCIENT  RELIGIOUS  MUSIC 

"pipe,"  may  have  been  a  sort  of  oboe  or  flageolet.  The 
band  of  prophets  met  by  Saul  advanced  to  the  sound  of 
nebel^  toph,  chalil^  and  kinnor.^  The  word  "psaltery," 
which  frequently  appears  in  the  English  version  of  the 
psalms,  is  sometimes  the  nehel^  sometimes  the  kinnor, 
sometimes  the  a«or,  which  was  a  species  of  nebel.  The 
"  instrument  of  ten  strings  "  was  also  the  nebel  or  asor. 
Percussion  instruments,  such  as  the  drum,  cymbals, 
bell,  and  the  Egyptian  sistrum  (which  consisted  of  a 
small  frame  of  bronze  into  which  three  or  four  metal 
bars  were  loosely  inserted,  producing  a  jingling  noise 
when  shaken),  were  also  in  common  use.  In  the  Old 
Testament  there  are  about  thirteen  instruments  men- 
tioned as  known  to  the  Hebrews,  not  including  those 
mentioned  in  Dan.  iii.,  whose  names,  according  to 
Chappell,  are  not  derived  from  Hebrew  roots.*  All  of 
these  were  simple  and  rude,  yet  considerably  varied  in 
character,  representing  the  three  classes  into  which 
instruments,  the  world  over,  are  divided,  viz.^  stringed 
instruments,  wind  instruments,  and  instruments  of 
percussion. 3 

Although  instruments  of  music  had  a  prominent  place 
in  public  festivities,  social  gatherings,  and  private 
recreation,  far  more  important  was  their  use  in  connec- 
tion with  religious  ceremony.  As  the  Hebrew  nation 
increased  in  power,  and  as  their  conquests  became  per- 
manently secured,  so  the   arts   of  peace   developed  in 

1  1  Sam.  X.  5. 

'  Chappell,  History  of  Music,  Introdnction. 

'  For  extended  descriptions  of  ancient  musical  instrnments  the  reader 
is  referred  to  Chappell,  History  of  Music ;  Engel,  The  Music  of  the  Most 
Ancient  Nations ;  and  Stainer,  The  Music  of  the  Bible, 

23 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

greater  profusion  and  refinement,  and  with  them  the 
embellishments  of  the  liturgical  worship  became  more 
highly  organized.  With  the  capture  of  Jerusalem  and 
the  establishment  of  the  royal  residence  within  its  ram- 
parts, the  worship  of  Jehovah  increased  in  splendor;  the 
love  of  pomp  and  display,  which  was  characteristic  of 
David,  and  still  more  of  his  luxurious  son  Solomon,  was 
manifest  in  the  imposing  rites  and  ceremonies  that  were 
organized  to  the  honor  of  the  people's  God.  The  epoch 
of  these  two  rulers  was  that  in  which  the  national  force 
was  in  the  flower  of  its  youthful  vigor,  the  national 
pride  had  been  stimulated  by  continual  triumphs,  the 
long  period  of  struggle  and  fear  had  been  succeeded  by 
glorious  peace.  The  barbaric  splendor  of  religious  ser- 
vice and  fesfail  pageant  was  the  natural  expression  of 
popular  joy  and  self-confidence.  In  all  these  ebullitions 
of  national  feeling,  choral  and  instrumental  music  on 
the  most  brilliant  and  massive  scale  held  a  conspicuous 
place.  The  description  of  the  long  series  of  public  re- 
joicings, culminating  in  the  dedication  of  Solomon's 
temple,  begins  with  the  transportation  of  the  ark  of 
the  Lord  from  Gibeah,  when  "  David  and  all  the  house 
of  Israel  played  before  the  Lord  with  all  manner  of 
instruments  made  of  fir-wood,  and  with  harps  (kinnor), 
and  with  psalteries  (jieheV)^  and  with  timbrels  (topK)^ 
with  castanets  (sistrum^^  and  with  cymbals  (tzeltzelim)/''  ^ 
And  again,  when  the  ark  was  brought  from  the  house  of 
Obed-edom  into  the  city  of  David,  the  king  danced 
"with  all  his  might,"  and  the  ark  was  brought  up  "with 
shouting  and  with  the  sound  of  a  trumpet.  "^     Singers 

i  2  Sam.  vi.  5.  ^2  Sam.  vi.  14,  15. 

24 


PRIMITIVE  AND  ANCIENT  RELIGIOUS  MUSIC 

were  marshalled  under  leaders  and  supported  by  bands 
of  instruments.  The  ode  ascribed  to  David  was  given 
to  Asaph  as  chief  of  the  choir  of  Levites ;  Asaph  beat 
the  time  with  cymbals,  and  the  royal  psean  was  chanted 
by  masses  of  chosen  singers  to  the  accompaniment  of 
harps,  lyres,  and  trumpets. ^  In  the  organization  of  the 
temple  service  no  detail  received  more  careful  attention 
than  the  vocal  and  instrumental  music.  We  read  that 
four  thousand  Levites  were  appointed  to  praise  the  Lord 
with  instruments. 2  There  were  also  two  hundred  and 
eighty-eight  skilled  singers  who  sang  to  instrumental 
accompaniment  beside  the  altar. ^ 

The  function  performed  by  instruments  in  the  temple 
service  is  also  indicated  in  the  account  of  the  reestab- 
lishment  of  the  worship  of  Jehovah  by  Hezekiah  accord- 
ing to  the  institutions  of  David  and  Solomon.  With 
the  burnt  offering  the  song  of  praise  was  uplifted  to  the 
accompaniment  of  the  "instruments  of  David,"  the 
singers  intoned  the  psalm  and  the  trumpets  sounded, 
and  this  continued  until  the  sacrifice  was  consumed. 
When  the  rite  was  ended  a  hymn  of  praise  was  sung  by 
the  Levites,  while  the  king  and  the  people  bowed 
themselves.* 

With  the  erection  of  the  second  temple  after  the  re- 
turn from  the  Babylonian  exile,  the  liturgical  service 
was  restored,  although  not  with  its  pristine  magnifi- 
cence.    Ezra  narrates :   "  When  the   builders    laid   the 


1  1  Cliron.  xvi.  5,  6. 

2  1  Chrou.  xxiii.  5. 

8  1  Chron.  xxv. ;  2  Chron.  v.  12.     See  also  2  Chron.  v.  11-14. 

*  2  Chrou.  xxix.  25-30. 

25 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

foundation  of  the  temple  of  the  Lord,  they  set  the 
priests  in  their  apparel  with  trumpets,  and  the  Levites 
the  sons  of  Asaph  with  cymbals,  to  praise  the  Lord, 
after  the  order  of  David  king  of  Israel.  And  they 
sang  one  to  another  in  praising  and  giving  thanks  unto 
the  Lord,  saying,  For  he  is  good,  for  his  mercy  endureth 
forever  toward  Israel."^  And  at  the  dedication  of  the 
wall  of  Jerusalem,  as  recorded  by  Nehemiah,  instru- 
mentalists and  singers  assembled  in  large  numbera,  to 
lead  the  multitude  in  rendering  praise  and  thanks  to 
Jehovah. 2  Instruments  were  evidently  employed  in 
independent  flourishes  and  signals,  as  well  as  in  accom- 
panying the  singers.  The  trumpets  were  used  only  in 
the  interludes;  the  pipes  and  stringed  instruments 
strengthened  the  voice  parts;  the  cymbals  were  used  by 
the  leader  of  the  chorus  to  mark  the  rhythm. 

Notwithstanding  the  prominence  of  instruments  in  all 
observances  of  public  and  private  life,  they  were  always 
looked  upon  as  accessory  to  song.  Dramatic  poetry 
was  known  to  the  Hebrews,  as  indicated  by  such  com- 
positions as  the  Book  of  Job  and  the  Song  of  Songs. 
No  complete  epic  has  come  down  to  us,  but  certain  allu- 
sions in  the  Pentateuch,  such  as  the  mention  in  Num- 
bers xxi.  14  of  the  "book  of  the  wars  of  Jehovah," 
would  tend  to  show  that  this  people  possessed  a  collec- 
tion of  ballads  which,  taken  together,  would  properly 
constitute  a  national  epic.  But  whether  lyric,  epic,  or 
dramatic,  the  Hebrew  poetry  was  delivered,  according 
to  the  universal  custom  of  ancient  nations,  not  in  the 
speaking  voice,  but  in  musical  tone.  The  minstrel  poet, 
1  Ezra  iii.  10,  11.  a  Neh.  xii. 

26 


PRIMITIVE  AND  ANCIENT  RELIGIOUS  MUSIC 

it  has  been  said,  was  the  type  of  the  race.  Lyric  poetry 
may  be  divi<ied  into  two  classes :  first,  that  which  is  the 
expression  of  individual,  subjective  feeling,  the  poet 
communing  with  himself  alone,  imparting  to  his 
thought  a  color  derived  solely  from  his  personal  inward 
experience;  and  second,  that  which  utters  sentiments 
that  are  shared  by  an  organization,  community,  or  race, 
the  poet  serving  as  the  mouthpiece  of  a  mass  actuated 
by  common  experiences  and  motives.  The  second  class 
is  more  characteristic  of  a  people  in  the  earlier  stages 
of  culture,  when  the  individual  is  lost  in  the  community, 
before  the  tendency  towards  specialization  of  interests 
gives  rise  to  an  expression  that  is  distinctly  personal. 
In  all  the  world's  literature  the  Hebrew  psalms  are  the 
most  splendid  examples  of  this  second  order  of  lyric 
poetry;  and  although  we  find  in  them  many  instances 
in  which  an  isolated,  purely  subjective  experience  finds 
a  voice,  yet  in  all  of  them  the  same  view  of  the  uni- 
verse, the  same  conception  of  the  relation  of  man  to  his 
Creator,  the  same  broad  and  distinctively  national  con- 
sciousness, control  their  thought  and  their  diction.  And 
there  are  very  few  even  of  the  first  class  which  a  Hebrew 
of  earnest  piety,  searching  his  own  heart,  could  not  adopt 
as  the  fitting  declaration  of  his  need  and  assurance. 

All  patriotic  songs  and  religious  poems  properly 
called  hymns  belong  in  the  second  division  of  lyrics; 
and  in  the  Hebrew  psalms  devotional  feeling,  touched 
here  and  there  with  a  patriot's  hopes  and  fears,  has  once 
for  all  projected  itself  in  forms  of  speech  which  seem  to 
exhaust  the  capabilities  of  sublimity  in  language.  These 
psalms  were  set  to  music,  and  presuppose  music  in  thei/ 

27 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN   CHURCH 

thought  and  their  technical  structure.  A  text  most 
appropriate  for  musical  rendering  must  be  free  from  all 
subtleties  of  meaning  and  over-refinements  of  phrase- 
ology; it  must  be  forcible  in  movement,  its  metaphors 
those  that  touch  upon  general  observation,  its  ideas 
those  that  appeal  to  the  common  consciousness  and 
sympathy.  These  qualities  the  psalms  possess  in  the 
highest  degree,  and  in  addition  they  have  a  sublimity  of 
thought,  a  magnificence  of  imagery,  a  majesty  and 
strength  of  movement,  that  evoke  the  loftiest  energies 
of  a  musical  genius  that  ventures  to  ally  itself  with 
them.  In  every  nation  of  Christendom  they  have  been 
made  the  foundation  of  the  musical  service  of  the 
Church ;  and  although  many  of  the  greatest  masters  of 
the  harmonic  art  have  lavished  upon  them  the  richest 
treasures  of  their  invention,  they  have  but  skimmed  the 
surface  of  their  unfathomable  suggestion. 

Of  the  manner  in  which  the  psalms  were  rendered  in 
the  ancient  Hebrew  worship  we  know  little.  The 
present  methods  of  singing  in  the  synagogues  give  us 
little  help,  for  there  is  no  record  by  which  they  can  be 
traced  back  beyond  the  definite  establishment  of  the 
synagogue  worship.  It  is  inferred  from  the  structure 
of  the  Hebrew  poetry,  as  well  as  unbroken  usage  from 
the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era,  that  the  psalms  were 
chanted  antiphonally  or  responsively.  That  form  of 
verse  known  as  parallelism  — ^the  repetition  of  a  thought 
in  different  words,  or  the  juxtaposition  of  two  con- 
trasted thoughts  forming  an  antithesis  —  pervades  a 
large  amount  of  the  Hebrew  poetry,  and  may  be  called 
its  technical  principle.     It  is,  we  might  say,  a  rhythm 

2S 


PRIMITIVE  AND  ANCIENT  RELIGIOUS  MUSIC 

of  thought,  an  assonance  of  feeling.  This  parallelism 
is  more  frequently  double,  sometimes  triple.  We  find 
this  peculiar  structure  as  far  back  as  the  address  of 
Lamech  to  his  wives  in  Gen.  iv.  23,  24,  in  Moses'  song 
after  the  passage  of  the  Red  Sea,  in  the  triumphal  ode 
of  Deborah  and  Barak,  in  the  greeting  of  the  Israel- 
itish  women  to  Saul  and  David  returning  from  the 
slaughter  of  the  Philistines,  in  the  Book  of  Job,  in  a 
large  proportion  of  the  rhythmical  imaginative  utter- 
ances of  the  psalmists  and  prophets.  The  Oriental 
Christians  sang  the  psalms  responsively ;  this  method 
was  passed  on  to  Milan  in  the  fourth  century,  to  Rome 
very  soon  afterward,  and  has  been  perpetuated  in  the 
liturgical  churches  of  modern  Christendom.  Whether, 
in  the  ancient  temple  service,  this  twofold  utterance  was 
divided  between  separate  portions  of  the  choir,  or  be- 
tween a  precentor  and  the  whole  singing  body,  there  are 
no  grounds  for  stating,  —  both  methods  have  been 
employed  in  modern  times.  It  is  not  even  certain  that 
the  psalms  were  sung  in  alternate  half-verses,  for  in  the 
Jewish  Church  at  the  present  day  the  more  frequent 
usage  is  to  divide  at  the  end  of  a  verse.  It  is  evident 
that  the  singing  was  not  congregational,  and  that  the 
share  of  the  people,  where  they  participated  at  all,  was 
confined  to  short  responses,  as  in  the  Christian  Church 
in  the  time  next  succeeding  the  apostolic  age.  The 
female  voice,  although  much  prized  in  secular  music, 
according  to  the  Talmud  was  not  permitted  in  the 
temple  service.  There  is  nothing  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment that  contradicts  this  except,  as  some  suppose,  the 
reference  to  the  three  daughters  of  Heman  in  1  Chron. 

29 


MUSIC  IN  THE   WESTERN  CHURCH 

XXV.  5,  where  we  read:  "And  God  gave  to  Heman 
fourteen  sons  and  three  daughters;"  and  in  verse  6: 
"All  these  were  under  the  hands  of  their  father  for 
song  in  the  house  of  the  Lord."  It  is  probable,  how- 
ever, that  the  mention  of  the  daughters  is  incidental, 
not  intended  as  an  assertion  that  they  were  actual  mem- 
bers of  the  temple  chorus,  for  we  cannot  conceive  why 
an  exception  should  have  been  made  in  their  behalf. 
Certainly  the  whole  implication  from  the  descriptions  of 
the  temple  service  and  the  enumeration  of  the  singers 
and  players  is  to  the  effect  that  only  the  male  voice  was 
utilized  in  the  liturgical  worship.  There  are  many 
allusions  to  "  women  singers "  in  the  Scriptures,  but 
they  plainly  apply  only  to  domestic  song,  or  to  proces- 
sions and  celebrations  outside  the  sacred  enclosure.  It 
is  certainly  noteworthy  that  the  exclusion  of  the  female 
voice,  which  has  obtained  in  the  Catholic  Church 
throughout  the  Middle  Age,  in  the  Eastern  Church,  in 
the  German  Protestant  Church,  and  in  the  cathedral 
service  of  the  Anglican  Church,  was  also  enforced  in 
the  temple  worship  of  Israel.  The  conviction  has  widely 
prevailed  among  the  stricter  custodians  of  religious 
ceremony  in  all  ages  that  there  is  something  sensuous 
and  passionate  (I  use  these  words  in  their  simpler 
original  meaning)  in  the  female  voice  —  something  at 
variance  with  the  austerity  of  ideal  which  should  prevail 
in  the  music  of  worship.  Perhaps,  also,  the  association 
of  men  and  women  in  the  sympathy  of  so  emotional  an 
office  as  that  of  song  is  felt  to  be  prejudicial  to  the 
complete  absorption  of  the  mind  which  the  sacred  func- 
tion demands.     Both  these   reasons  have  undoubtedly 

30 


PRIMITIVE  AND  ANCIENT  RELIGIOUS  MUSIC 

combined  in  so  many  historic  epochs  to  keep  all  the 
offices  of  ministry  in  the  house  of  God  in  the  hands  of 
the  male  sex.  On  the  other  hand,  in  the  more  sensu- 
ous cults  of  paganism  no  such  prohibition  has  existed. 

There  is  difference  of  opinion  in  regard  to  the  style 
of  melody  employed  in  the  delivery  of  the  psalms  in  the 
worship  of  the  temple  at  Jerusalem.  Was  it  a  mere 
intoned  declamation,  essentially  a  monotone  with  very 
slight  changes  of  pitch,  like  the  "  ecclesiastical  accent " 
of  the  Catholic  Church  ?  Or  was  it  a  freer,  more  melo- 
dious rendering,  as  in  the  more  ornate  membei's  of  the 
Catholic  Plain  Song  ?  The  modern  Jews  incline  to  the 
latter  opinion,  that  the  song  was  true  melody,  obeying, 
indeed,  the  universal  principle  of  chant  as  a  species  of 
vocalism  subordinated  in  rhythm  to  the  text,  yet  with 
abundant  movement  and  possessing  a  distinctly  tuneful 
character.  It  has  been  supposed  that  certain  inscrip- 
tions at  the  head  of  some  of  the  psalms  are  the  titles  of 
well-known  tunes,  perhaps  secular  folk-songs,  to  which 
the  psalms  were  sung.  We  find,  e.  g.^  at  the  head  of 
Ps.  xxii.  the  inscription,  "After  the  song  beginning, 
Hind  of  the  Dawn."  Ps.  Ivi.  has,  "After  the  song, 
The  silent  Dove  in  far-off  Lands."  Others  have, 
"After  lilies  "  (Ps.  xlv.  and  Ixix.),  and  "Destroy  not  " 
(Ps.  Ivii.-lix.).  We  cannot  on  a  priori  principles  reject 
the  supposition  that  many  psalms  were  sung  to  secular 
melodies,  for  we  shall  find,  as  we  trace  the  history  of 
music  in  the  Christian  era,  that  musicians  have  over 
and  over  again  borrowed  profane  airs  for  the  hymns  of 
the  Church.  In  fact,  there  is  hardly  a  branch  of  the 
Christian  Church  that  has  not  at  some  time  done  so, 

31 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

and  even  the  rigid  Jews  in  modern  times  have  employed 
the  same  means  to  increase  their  store  of  religious 
melodies. 

That  the  psalms  were  sung  with  the  help  of  instru- 
ments seems  indicated  by  superscriptions,  such  as 
"With  stringed  instruments,"  and  "To  the  flutes," 
although  objections  have  been  raised  to  these  transla- 
tions. No  such  indications  are  needed,  however,  to 
prove  the  point,  for  the  descriptions  of  worship  con- 
tained in  the  Old  Testament  seem  explicit.  The  in- 
struments were  used  to  accompany  the  voices,  and  also 
for  preludes  and  interludes.  The  word  "  Selah, "  so  often 
occurring  at  the  end  of  a  psalm  verse,  is  understood  by 
many  authorities  to  signify  an  instrumental  interlude 
or  flourish,  while  the  singers  were  for  a  moment  silent. 
One  writer  says  that  at  this  point  the  people  bowed  in 
prayer.  ^ 

Such,  generally  speaking,  is  the  most  that  can  defi- 
nitely be  stated  regarding  the  office  performed  by  music 
in  the  worship  of  Israel  in  the  time  of  its  glory.  With 
the  rupture  of  the  nation,  its  gradual  political  decline, 
the  inroads  of  idolatry,  the  exile  in  Babylon,  the  con- 
quest by  the  Romans,  the  disappearance  of  poetic  and 
musical  inspiration  with  the  substitution  of  formality 
and  routine  in  place  of  the  pristine  national  sincerity 
and  fervor,  it  would  inevitably  follow  that  the  great 
musical  traditions  would  fade  away,  until  at  the  time 
of  the  birth  of  Christ  but  little  would  remain  of  the 
elaborate  ritual  once  committed  to  the  guardianship  of 

1  Synagogue  Music,  by  F.  L.  Cohen,  in  Papers  read  at  the  Anglo-Jewish 
Historical  Exhibition,  London,  1887. 

32 


PRIMITIVE  AND  ANCIENT  RELIGIOUS  MUSIC 

cohorts  of  priests  and  Levites.  The.  sorrowing  exiles 
who  hung  their  harps  on  the  willows  of  Babylon  and 
refused  to  sing  the  songs  of  Zion  in  a  strange  land  cer- 
tainly never  forgot  the  airs  consecrated  by  such  sweet 
and  bitter  memories ;  but  in  the  course  of  centuries  they 
became  lost  among  the  strange  peoples  with  whom  the 
scattered  Israelites  found  their  home.  Many  were  for  a 
time  preserved  in  the  synagogues,  which,  in  the  later 
years  of  Jewish  residence  in  Palestine,  were  estab- 
lished in  large  numbers  in  all  the  towns  and  villages. 
The  service  of  the  synagogue  was  a  liturgical  service, 
consisting  of  benedictions,  chanting  of  psalms  and  other 
Scripture  passages,  with  responses  by  the  people,  les- 
sons from  the  law  and  the  prophets,  and  sermons.  The 
instrumental  music  of  the  temple  and  the  first  syna- 
gogues eventually  disappeared,  and  the  greater  part,  if 
not  the  whole,  of  the  ancient  psalm  melodies  vanished 
also  with  the  dispersion  of  the  Levites,  who  were  their 
especial  curators.  Many  details  of  ancient  ritual  and 
custom  must  have  survived  in  spite  of  vicissitude,  but 
the  final  catastrophe,  which  drove  a  desolate,  heart- 
broken remnant  of  the  children  of  Judah  into  alien  lands, 
must  inevitably  have  destroyed  all  but  the  merest  frag- 
ment of  the  fair  residue  of  national  art  by  sweeping 
away  all  tlie  conditions  by  which  a  national  art  can  live. 
Does  anything  remain  of  the  rich  musical  service 
which  for  fifteen  hundred  years  went  up  daily  from 
tabernacle  and  temple  to  the  throne  of  the  God  of 
Israel  ?  A  question  often  asked,  but  without  a  positive 
answer.  Perhaps  a  few  notes  of  an  ancient  melody,  or 
a  horn  signal  identical  with  one  blown  in  the  o^'Hm  or 
3  33 


MUSIC  IN  THE   WESTERN  CHURCH 

in  the  temple  court,  may  survive  in  the  synagogue 
to-day,  a  splinter  from  a  mighty  edifice  which  has  been 
submerged  by  the  tide  of  centuries.  As  would  be  pre- 
sumed of  a  people  so  tenacious  of  time-honored  usages, 
the  voice  of  tradition  declares  that  the  intonations  of 
the  ritual  chant  used  in  the  synagogue  are  survivals  of 
forms  employed  in  the  temple  at  Jerusalem.  These 
intonations  are  certainly  Oriental  in  character  and  very 
ancient,  but  that  they  date  back  to  the  time  of  David 
cannot  be  proved  or  disproved.  A  style  of  singing  like 
the  well-known  "  cantillation "  might  easily  be  pre- 
served, a  complete  melody  possibly,  but  the  presumption 
is  against  an  antiquity  so  great  as  the  Jews,  with  par- 
donable pride,  claim  for  some  of  their  weird,  archaic 
strains. 

With  the  possible  exception  of  scanty  fragments, 
nothing  remains  of  the  songs  so  much  loved  by  this 
devoted  people  in  their  early  home.  We  may  speculate 
upon  the  imagined  beauty  of  that  music ;  it  is  natural 
to  do  so.  Omne  ignotum  pro  magnifico.  We  know  that 
it  often  shook  the  hearts  of  those  that  heard  it;  but  our 
knowledge  of  the  comparative  rudeness  of  all  Oriental 
music,  ancient  and  modern,  teaches  us  that  its  effect 
was  essentially  that  of  simple  unison  successions  of 
tones  wedded  to  poetry  of  singular  exaltation  and  vehe- 
mence, and  associated  with  liturgical  actions  calculated 
to  impress  the  beholder  with  an  overpowering  sense  of 
awe.  The  interest  which  all  must  feel  in  the  religious 
music  of  the  Hebrews  is  not  due  to  its  importance  in  the 
history  of  art,  but  to  its  place  in  the  history  of  culture. 
Certainly  the  art  of  music  was  never  more  highly  hon- 

34 


PRIMITIVE  AND  ANCIENT  RELIGIOUS  MUSIC 

ored,  its  efficacy  as  an  agent  in  arousing  the  heart  to  the 
most  ardent  spiritual  experiences  was  never  more  con- 
vincingly demonstrated,  than  when  the  seers  and  psalm- 
ists of  Israel  found  in  it  an  indispensable  auxiliary  of 
those  appeals,  confessions,  praises,  and  pious  raptures  in 
which  the  whole  after-world  has  seen  the  highest  attain- 
ment of  language  under  the  impulse  of  religious  ecstasy. 
Taking  "  the  harp  the  monarch  minstrel  swept "  as  a 
symbol  of  Hebrew  devotional  song  at  large,  Byron's 
words  are  true: 

"  It  softened  men  of  iron  mould, 

It  gave  them  virtues  not  their  own ; 

No  ear  so  dull,  no  soul  so  cold, 

That  felt  not,  fired  not  to  the  tone, 

TiU  David's  lyre  grew  mightier  than  his  throne." 

This  music  foreshadowed  the  completer  expression  of 
Christian  art  of  which  it  became  the  type.  Inspired  by 
the  grandest  of  traditions,  provided  with  credentials  as, 
on  equal  terms  with  poetry,  valid  in  the  expression  of 
man's  consciousness  of  his  needs  and  his  infinite  privi- 
lege, —  thus  consecrated  for  its  future  mission,  the  soul 
of  music  passed  from  Hebrew  priests  to  apostles  and 
Christian  fathers,  and  so  on  to  the  saints  and  hierarchs, 
who  laid  the  foundation  of  the  sublime  structure  of  the 
worship  music  of  a  later  day. 


85 


CHAPTER  II 

RITUAL  AND  SONG  IN  THE   EARLY   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH 
A.D.  50-600 

The  epoch  of  the  apostles  and  their  immediate  suc- 
cessors is  that  around  which  the  most  vigorous  contro- 
versies have  been  waged  ever  since  modern  criticism 
recognized  the  supreme  importance  of  that  epoch  in 
the  history  of  doctrine  and  ecclesiastical  government. 
Hardly  a  form  of  belief  or  polity  but  has  sought  to 
obtain  its  sanction  from  the  teaching  and  usages  of  those 
churches  that  received  their  systems  most  directly  from 
the  personal  disciples  of  the  Founder.  A  curiosity  less 
productive  of  contention,  but  hardly  less  persistent, 
attaches  to  the  forms  and  methods  of  worship  practised 
by  the  Christian  congregations.  The  rise  of  liturgies, 
rites,  and  ceremonies,  the  origin  and  use  of  hymns,  the 
foundation  of  the  liturgical  chant,  the  degree  of  partici- 
pation enjoyed  by  the  laity  in  the  offices  of  praise  and 
prayer,  —  these  and  many  other  closely  related  subjects 
of  inquiry  possess  far  more  than  an  antiquarian  interest; 
they  are  bound  up  with  the  history  of  that  remarkable 
transition  from  the  homogenous,  more  democratic 
system  of  the  apostolic  age,  to  the  hierarchical  organi- 
zation which  became  matured  and  consolidated  under 
the  Western  popes  and  Eastern  patriarchs.     Associated 

?6 


RITUAL  AND   SONG  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

with  this  administrative  development  and  related  in  its 
causes,  an  elaborate  system  of  rites  and  ceremonies  arose, 
partly  an  evolution  from  within,  partly  an  inheritance 
of  ancient  habits  and  predispositions,  which  at  last 
became  formulated  into  unvarying  types  of  devotional 
expression.  Music  participated  in  this  ritualistic 
movement;  it  rapidly  became  liturgical  and  clerical, 
the  laity  ceased  to  share  in  the  worship  of  song  and 
resigned  this  office  to  a  chorus  drawn  from  the  minor 
clergy,  and  a  highly  organized  body  of  chants,  applied 
to  every  moment  of  the  service,  became  almost  the  entire 
substance  of  worship  music,  and  remained  so  for  a 
thousand  yeara. 

In  the  very  nature  of  the  case  a  new  energy  must 
enter  the  art  of  music  when  enlisted  in  the  ministry  of 
the  religion  of  Christ.  A  new  motive,  a  new  spirit, 
unknown  to  Greek  or  Roman  or  even  to  Hebrew,  had 
taken  possession  of  the  religious  consciousness.  To  the 
adoration  of  the  same  Supreme  Power,  before  whom 
the  Jew  bowed  in  awe-stricken  reverence,  was  added 
the  recognition  of  a  gift  which  the  Jew  still  dimly 
hoped  for;  and  this  gift  brought  with  it  an  assurance, 
and  hence  a  felicity,  which  were  never  granted  to  the 
religionist  of  the  old  dispensation. 

The  Christian  felt  himself  the  chosen  joint-heir  of  a 
risen  and  ascended  Lord,  who  by  his  death  and  resur- 
rection had  brought  life  and  immortality  to  light.  The 
devotion  to  a  personal,  ever-living  Saviour  transcended 
and  often  supplanted  all  other  loyalty  whatsoever, — 
to  country,  parents,  husband,  wife,  or  child.  This  reli- 
gion was,  therefore,  emphatically  one  of  joy,  —  a  joy  so 

37 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

absorbing,  so  completely  satisfying,  so  founded  on  the 
loftiest  hopes  that  the  human  mind  is  able  to  entertain, 
that  even  the  ecstatic  worship  of  Apollo  or  Dionysus 
seems  melancholy  and  hopeless  in  comparison.  Yet  it 
was  not  a  joy  that  was  prone  to  expend  itself  in  noisy 
demonstrations.  It  was  mingled  with  such  a  profound 
sense  of  personal  unworthiness  and  the  most  solemn 
responsibilities,  tempered  with  sentiments  of  awe  and 
wonder  in  the  presence  of  unfathomable  mysteries,  that 
the  manifestations  of  it  must  be  subdued  to  moderation, 
expressed  in  forms  that  could  appropriately  typify  spirit- 
ual and  eternal  relationships.  And  so,  as  sculpture 
was  the  art  which  most  adequately  embodied  the  human- 
istic conceptions  of  Greek  theology,  poetry  and  music 
became  the  arts  in  which  Christianity  found  a  vehicle  of 
expression  most  suited  to  her  genius.  These  two  arts, 
therefore,  when  acted  upon  by  ideas  so  sublime  and 
penetrating  as  those  of  the  Gospel,  must  at  last  become 
transformed,  and  exhibit  signs  of  a  renewed  and  aspiring 
activity.  The  very  essence  of  the  divine  revelation  in 
Jesus  Christ  must  strike  a  more  thrilling  note  than  tone 
and  emotional  speech  had  ever  sounded  before.  The 
genius  of  Christianity,  opening  up  new  soul  depths,  and 
quickening,  as  no  other  religion  could,  the  higher  possi- 
bilities of  holiness  in  man,  was  especially  adapted  to 
evoke  larger  manifestations  of  musical  invention.  The 
religion  of  Jesus  revealed  God  in  the  universality  of  his 
fatherhood,  and  his  omnipresence  in  nature  and  in  the 
human  conscience.  God  must  be  worshipped  in  spirit 
and  in  truth,  as  one  who  draws  men  into  communion 
with  him  by  his  immediate  action  upon  the  heart.     This 

38 


RITUAL  AND  SONG  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

religion  made  an  appeal  that  could  only  be  met  by  the 
purification  of  the  heart,  and  by  reconciliation  and 
union  with  God  through  the  merits  of  the  crucified  Son. 
The  believer  felt  the  possibility  of  direct  and  loving 
communion  with  the  Infinite  Power  as  the  stirring  of 
the  very  bases  of  his  being.  This  new  consciousness 
must  declare  itself  in  forms  of  expression  hardly 
glimpsed  by  antiquity,  and  literature  and  art  undergo 
re-birth.  Music  particularly,  the  art  which  seems  pecul- 
iarly capable  of  reflecting  the  most  urgent  longings  of 
the  spirit,  felt  the  animating  force  of  Christianity  as  the 
power  which  was  to  emancipate  it  from  its  ancient  thral- 
dom and  lead  it  forth  into  a  boundless  sphere  of  action. 
Not  at  once,  however,  could  musical  art  spring  up 
full  grown  and  responsive  to  these  novel  demands.  An 
art,  to  come  to  perfection,  requires  more  than  a  motive. 
The  motive,  the  vision,  the  emotion  yearning  to  realize 
itself,  may  be  there,  but  beyond  this  is  the  mastery  of 
material  and  form,  and  such  mastery  is  of  slow  and 
tedious  growth.  Especially  is  this  true  in  respect  to 
the  art  of  music ;  musical  forms,  having  no  models  in 
nature  like  painting  and  sculpture,  no  associative  sym- 
bolism like  poetry,  no  guidance  from  considerations  of 
utility  like  architecture,  must  be  the  result,  so  far  as 
any  human  work  can  be  such,  of  actual  free  creation. 
And  yet  this  creation  is  a  progressive  creation ;  its  forms 
evolve  from  forms  preexisting  as  demands  for  expres- 
sion arise  to  which  the  old  are  inadequate.  Models 
must  be  found,  but  in  the  nature  of  the  case  the  art  can 
never  go  outside  of  itself  for  its  suggestion.  And  al- 
though Christian  music  must  be  a  development  and  not 

39 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN   CHURCH 

the  sudden  product  of  an  exceptional  inspiration,  yet  we 
must  not  suppose  that  the  early  Church  was  compelled 
to  work  out  its  melodies  from  those  crude  elements 
in  which  anthropology  discovers  the  first  stage  of  musi- 
cal progress  in  primitive  man.  The  Christian  fathers, 
like  the  founders  of  every  historic  system  of  religious 
music,  drew  their  suggestion  and  perhaps  some  of  their 
actual  material  from  both  religious  and  secular  sources. 
The  principle  of  ancient  music,  to  which  the  early  Chris- 
tian music  conformed,  was  that  of  the  subordination  of 
music  to  poetry  and  the  dance-figure.  Harmony  was 
virtually  unknown  in  antiquity,  and  without  a  knowl- 
edge of  part-writing  no  independent  art  of  music  is  pos- 
sible. The  song  of  antiquity  was  the  most  restricted  of 
all  melodic  styles,  viz.,  the  chant  or  recitative.  The 
essential  feature  of  both  chant  and  recitative  is  that  the 
tones  are  made  to  conform  to  the  metre  and  accent  of 
the  text,  the  words  of  which  are  never  repeated  or 
prosodically  modified  out  of  deference  to  melodic  phrases 
and  periods.  In  true  song,  on  the  contrary,  the  words 
are  subordinated  to  the  exigencies  of  musical  laws  of 
structure,  and  the  musical  phrase,  not  the  word,  is  the 
ruling  power.  The  principle  adopted  by  the  Christian 
fathers  was  that  of  the  chant,  and  Christian  music  could 
not  begin  to  move  in  the  direction  of  modern  artistic 
attainment  until,  in  the  course  of  time,  a  new  technical 
principle,  and  a  new  conception  of  the  relation  between 
music  and  poetry,   could  be  introduced. 

In  theory,  style,  usage,  and  probably  to  some  extent 
in  actual  melodies  also,  the  music  of  the  primitive 
Church  forms  an  unbroken  line  with  the  music  of  pre- 

40 


RITUAL  AND  SONG  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

Christian  antiquity.  The  relative  proportion  contrib- 
uted by  Jewish  and  Greek  musical  practice  cannot  be 
known.  There  was  at  the  beginning  no  formal  break 
with  the  ancient  Jewish  Church ;  the  disciples  assembled 
regularly  in  the  temple  for  devotional  exercises;  wor- 
ship in  their  private  gatherings  was  modelled  upon  that 
of  the  synagogue  which  Christ  himself  had  implicitly 
sanctioned.  The  synagogical  code  was  modified  by  the 
Christians  by  the  introduction  of  the  eucharistic  service, 
the  Lord's  Prayer,  the  baptismal  formula,  and  other 
institutions  occasioned  by  the  new  doctrines  and  the 
"spiritual  gifts."  At  Christ's  last  supper  with  his  dis- 
ciples, when  the  chief  liturgical  rite  of  the  Church  was 
instituted,  the  company  sang  a  hymn  which  was  un- 
questionably the  "great  Hallel "  of  the  Jewish  Passover 
celebration.  1  The  Jewish  Christians  clung  with  an 
inherited  reverence  to  the  venerable  forms  of  their 
fathers'  worship;  they  observed  the  Sabbath,  the  three 
daily  hours  of  prayer,  and  much  of  the  Mosaic  ritual. 
In  respect  to  musical  usages,  the  most  distinct  intima- 
tion in  early  records  of  the  continuation  of  ancient  forms 
is  found  in  the  occasional  reference  to  the  habit  of 
antiphonal  or  responsive  chanting  of  the  psalms.  P'ixed 
forms  of  prayer  were  also  used  in  the  apostolic  Church, 
which  were  to  a  considerable  extent  modelled  upon  the 
psalms  and  the  benedictions  of  the  synagogue  ritual. 
That  the  Hebrew  melodies  were  borrowed  at  the  same 
time  cannot  be  demonstrated,  but  it  may  be  assumed  as 
a  necessary  inference. 

^  Ps.  cxiii-cxviii. 

41 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

With  the  spread  of  the  Gospel  among  the  Gentiles, 
the  increasing  hostility  between  Christians  and  Jews, 
the  dismemberment  of  the  Jewish  nationality,  and  the 
overthrow  of  Jewish  institutions  to  which  the  Hebrew 
Christians  had  maintained  a  certain  degree  of  attach- 
ment, dependence  upon  the  Jewish  ritual  was  loosened, 
and  the  worship  of  the  Church  came  under  the  influence 
of  Hellenic  systems  and  traditions.  Greek  philosophy 
and  Greek  art,  although  both  in  decadence,  were 
dominant  in  the  intellectual  life  of  the  East,  and  it 
was  impossible  that  the  doctrine,  worship,  and  govern- 
ment of  the  Church  should  not  be  gradually  leavened 
by  them.  St.  Paul  wrote  in  the  Greek  language; 
the  earliest  liturgies  are  in  Greek.  The  sentiment  of 
prayer  and  praise  was,  of  course,  Hebraic;  the  psalms 
formed  the  basis  of  all  lyric  expression,  and  the  hymns 
and  liturgies  were  to  a  large  extent  colored  by  their 
phraseology  and  spirit.  The  shapeliness  and  flexibility 
of  Greek  art,  the  inward  fervor  of  Hebrew  aspiration, 
the  love  of  ceremonial  and  symbolism,  which  was  not 
confined  to  any  single  nation  but  was  a  universal  char- 
acteristic of  the  time,  all  contributed  to  build  up  the 
composite  and  imposing  structure  of  the  later  worship 
of  the  Eastern  and  Western  churches. 

The  singing  of  psalms  formed  a  part  of  the  Christian 
worship  from  the  beginning,  and  certain  special  psalms 
were  early  appointed  for  particular  days  and  occasions. 
At  what  time  hymns  of  contemporary  origin  were  added 
we  have  no  means  of  knowing.  Evidently  during  the 
life  of  St.  Paul,  for  we  find  him  encouraging  the 
Ephesians  and  Colossians  to  the  use  of  "psalms,  hymns, 

42 


RITUAL  AND  SONG  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

and  spiritual  songs."  ^  To  be  sure  he  is  not  specifically 
alluding  to  public  worship  in  these  exhortations  (in  the 
first  instance  "speaking  to  yourselves"  and  "singing 
and  making  melody  in  your  hearts,"  in  the  second 
"teaching  and  admonishing  one  another"),  but  it  is 
hardly  to  be  supposed  that  the  spiritual  exercise  of 
which  he  speaks  would  be  excluded  from  the  religious 
services  which  at  that  time  were  of  daily  observance. 
The  injunction  to  teach  and  admonish  by  means  of 
songs  also  agrees  with  other  evidences  that  a  prime 
motive  for  hymn  singing  in  many  of  the  churches  was 
instruction  in  the  doctrines  of  the  faith.  It  would 
appear  that  among  the  early  Christians,  as  with  the 
Greeks  and  other  ancient  nations,  moral  precepts  and 
instruction  in  religious  mysteries  were  often  thrown  into 
poetic  and  musical  form,  as  being  by  this  means  more 
impressive  and  more  easily  remembered. 

It  is  to  be  noticed  that  St.  Paul,  in  each  of  the  pas- 
sages cited  above,  alludes  to  religious  songs  under  three 
distinct  terms,  viz. :  yjraXfxoi,  v/jlvol,  and  (pBal  TrvevfiariKai. 
The  usual  supposition  is  that  the  terms  are  not  synony- 
mous, that  they  refer  to  a  threefold  classification  of  the 
songs  of  the  early  Church  into:  1,  the  ancient  Hebrew 
psalms  properly  so  called;  2,  hymns  taken  from  the 
Old  Testament  and  not  included  in  the  psalter  and  since 
called  canticles,  such  as  the  thanksgiving  of  Hannah, 
the  song  of  Moses,  the  Psalm  of  the  Three  Children 
from  the  continuation  of  the  Book  of  Daniel,  the  vision 
of  Habakkuk,  etc. ;  and,  3,  songs  composed  by  the 
Christians  themselves.     The  last  of  these  three  classes 

1  Eph.  V.  19;  Col.  iu.  16. 
43 


MUSIC  IN  THE   WESTERN  CHURCH 

points  us  to  the  birth  time  of  Christian  hymnody.  The 
lyric  inspiration,  which  has  never  failed  from  that  day 
to  this,  began  to  move  the  instant  the  proselyting  work 
of  the  Church  began.  In  the  freedom  and  informality 
of  the  religious  assembly  as  it  existed  among  the  Hel- 
lenic Christians,  it  became  the  practice  for  tlie  believers 
to  contribute  impassioned  outbursts,  which  might  be 
called  songs  in  a  rudimentary  state.  In  moments  o± 
highly  charged  devotional  ecstasy  this  spontaneous 
utterance  took  the  form  of  broken,  incoherent,  unintel- 
ligible ejaculations,  probably  in  cadenced,  half -rhythmic 
tone,  expressive  of  rapture  and  mystical  illumination. 
This  was  the  " glossolalia, "  or  "gift  of  tongues  "  alluded 
to  by  St.  Paul  in  the  first  epistle  to  the  Corinthians  as  a 
practice  to  be  approved,  under  certain  limitations,  as 
edifying  to  the  believers.  ^ 

Dr.  Schaff  defines  the  gift  of  tongues  as  "  an  utter- 
ance proceeding  from  a  state  of  unconscious  ecstasy  in 
the  speaker,  and  unintelligible  to  the  hearer  unless 
interpreted.  The  speaking  with  tongues  is  an  involun- 
tary, psalm -like  prayer  or  song  uttered  from  a  spiritual 
trance,  in  a  peculiar  language  inspired  by  the  Holy 
Spirit.  The  soul  is  almost  entirely  passive,  an  instru- 
ment on  which  the  Spirit  plays  his  heavenl}-  melodies." 
"  It  is  emotional  rather  than  intellectual,  the  language 
of  excited  imagination,  not  of  cool  reflection." *  St. 
Paul  was  himself  an  adept  in  this  singular  form  of 
worship,  as  he  himself  declares  in  1  Cor.  xiv.  18;  but 
with  his  habitual  coolness  of  judgment   he  warns  the 

*  1  Cor.  xii.  and  xiv. 

2  Schaff,  Histori)  of  the  Christian  Church,  I.  p.  234  f. ;  p.  435. 
U 


RITUAL  AND  SONG  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

excitable  Corinthian  Christians  that  sober  instruction  is 
more  profitable,  that  the  proper  end  of  all  utterance  in 
common  public  worship  is  edification,  and  enjoins  as  an 
effective  restraint  that  "if  any  man  speaketh  in  a 
tongue,  let  one  interpret;  but  if  there  be  no  interpreter, 
let  him  keep  silence  in  the  Church ;  and  let  him  speak 
to  himself  and  to  God."^  With  the  regulation  of  the 
worship  in  stated  liturgic  form  this  extemporaneous 
ebullition  of  feeling  was  done  away,  but  if  it  was  analo- 
gous, as  it  probably  was,  to  the  practice  so  common  in 
Oriental  vocal  music,  both  ancient  and  modern,  of  de- 
livering long  wordless  tonal  flourishes  as  an  expression 
of  joy,  then  it  has  in  a  certain  sense  survived  in  the 
"jubilations"  of  the  Catholic  liturgical  chant,  which  in 
the  early  Middle  Age  were  more  extended  than  now. 
Chappell  finds  traces  of  a  practice  somewhat  similar  to 
the  "  jubilations  "  existing  in  ancient  Egypt.  "  This 
practice  of  carolling  or  singing  without  words,  like 
birds,  to  the  gods,  was  copied  by  the  Greeks,  who  seem 
to  have  carolled  on  four  vowels.  The  vowels  had  prob- 
ably, in  both  cases,  some  recognized  meaning  attached 
to  them,  as  substitutes  for  certain  words  of  praise  —  as 
was  the  case  when  the  custom  was  transferred  to  the 
Western  Church." ^  This  may  or  may  not  throw  light 
upon  the  obscure  nature  of  the  glossolalia,  but  it  is  not 
to  be  supposed  that  the  Corinthian  Christians  invented 
this  custom,  since  we  find  traces  of  it  in  the  worship  of 
the  ancient  pagan  nations ;  and  so  far  as  it  was  the 
unrestrained  outburst  of  emotion,  it  must  have  been  to 

1  1  Cor,  xiv.  27,  28. 

2  Cliaiii)cll,  History  of  Music. 

45 


MUSIC  IN   THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

some  extent  musical,  and  only  needed  regulation  and 
the  application  of  a  definite  key-system  to  become,  like 
the  mediaeval  Sequence  under  somewhat  similar  condi- 
tions, an  established  order  of  sacred  song. 

Out  of  a  musical  impulse,  of  which  the  glossolalia 
was  one  of  many  tokens,  united  with  the  spirit  of 
prophecy  or  instruction,  grew  the  hymns  of  the  infant 
Church,  dim  outlines  of  which  begin  to  appear  in  the 
twilight  of  this  obscure  period.  The  worshipers  of 
Christ  could  not  remain  content  with  the  Hebrew 
psalms,  for,  in  spite  of  their  inspiriting  and  edifying 
character,  they  were  not  concerned  with  the  facts  on 
which  the  new  faith  was  based,  except  as  they  might 
be  interpreted  as  prefiguring  the  later  dispensation. 
Hymns  were  required  in  which  Christ  was  directly 
celebrated,  and  the  apprehension  of  his  infinite  gifts 
embodied  in  language  which  would  both  fortify  the  be- 
lievers and  act  as  a  converting  agency.  It  would  be 
contrary  to  all  analogy  and  to  the  universal  facts  of 
human  nature  if  such  were  not  the  case,  and  we  may 
suppose  that  a  Christian  folk-song,  such  as  the  post- 
apostolic  age  reveals  to  us,  began  to  appear  in  the 
first  century.  Some  scholars  believe  that  certain  of 
these  primitive  hymns,  or  fragments  of  tliem,  are 
embalmed  in  the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul  and  the  Book  of 
the  Revelation.^  The  magnificent  description  of  the 
worship  of  God  and  the  Lamb  in  the  Apocalypse  has 
been  supposed  by  some  to  have  been  suggested  by  the 
manner  of  worship,  already  become   liturgical,  in    the 

^  Among  such  supposed  quotations  are:  Eph.  v.  14 ;  1  Tim.  iii.  16;  5J 
Tim.  ii.  11 ;  Kev.  iv.  11  ;  v   9-13  ;  xi.  15-18  ;  xv.  3,  4. 

4G 


RITUAL  AND   SONG  IN   THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

Eastern  churches.  Certainly  there  is  a  manifest  resem- 
blance between  the  picture  of  one  sitting  upon  the 
throne  with  the  twenty-four  elders  and  a  multitude  of 
angels  surrounding  him,  as  set  forth  in  the  Apocalypse, 
and  the  account  given  in  the  second  book  of  the  Consti- 
tutions of  the  Apostles  of  the  throne  of  the  bishop  in  the 
middle  of  the  church  edifice,  with  the  presbyters  and 
deacons  on  each  side  and  the  laity  beyond.  In  this 
second  book  of  the  Constitutions,  belonging,  of  course, 
to  a  later  date  than  the  apostolic  period,  there  is  no 
mention  of  hymn  singing.  The  share  of  the  people  is 
confined  to  responses  at  the  end  of  the  verses  of  the 
psalms,  which  are  sung  by  some  one  appointed  to  this 
office.^  The  sacerdotal  and  liturgical  movement  had 
already  excluded  from  the  chief  acts  of  worship  the 
independent  song  of  the  people.  Those  who  assume 
that  the  office  of  song  in  the  early  Church  was  freely 
committed  to  the  general  body  of  believers  have  some 
ground  for  their  assumption ;  but  if  we  are  able  to  dis- 
tinguish between  the  private  and  public  worship,  and 
could  know  how  early  it  was  that  set  forms  and  litur- 
gies were  adopted,  it  would  appear  that  at  the  longest 
the  time  was  very  brief  when  the  laity  were  allowed  a 
share  in  any  but  the  subordinate  offices.  The  earliest 
testimony  that  can  be  called  definite  is  contained  in  tlie 
celebrated  letter  of  the  younger  Pliny  from  Bithynia 
to  the  Emperor  Trajan,  in  the  year  112,  in  which  the 
Christians  are  described  as  coming  together  before 
daylight  and  singing  hymns  alternately  (invicem)  to 
Christ.     This  may  with  some  reason  be  held  to  refer 

1  Conttitutions  of  the  Apostles,  book.  ii.  chap.  57. 
47 


MUSIC  IN   THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

to  responsive  or  antiphonal  singing,  similar  to  that 
described  by  Philo  in  his  account  of  the  worship  of  the 
Jewish  sect  of  the  Therapeuta3  in  the  first  century. 
The  tradition  was  long  preserved  in  the  Church  that 
Ignatius,  bishop  of  Antioch  in  the  second  century,  intro- 
duced antiphonal  chanting  into  the  churches  of  that 
city,  having  been  moved  thereto  by  a  vision  of  angels 
singing  in  that  manner.  But  we  have  only  to  go  back 
to  the  worship  of  the  ancient  Hebrews  for  the  suggestion 
of  this  practice.  This  alternate  singing  appears  to  have 
been  most  prevalent  in  the  Syrian  churches,  and  was 
carried  thence  to  Milan  and  Rome,  and  through  the 
usage  in  these  cities  was  established  in  the  permanent 
habit  of  the  Western  Church. 

Although  the  singing  of  psalms  and  hymns  by  the 
body  of  worshipers  was,  therefore,  undoubtedly  the 
custom  of  the  churches  while  still  in  their  primitive 
condition  as  informal  assemblies  of  believers  for 
mutual  counsel  and  edification,  the  steady  progress  of 
ritualism  and  the  growth  of  sacerdotal  ideas  inevitably 
deprived  the  people  of  all  initiative  in  the  worship,  and 
concentrated  the  offices  of  public  devotion,  including 
that  of  song,  exclusively  in  the  hands  of  the  clergy.  By 
the  middle  of  the  fourth  century,  if  not  earlier,  the 
change  was  complete.  The  simple  organization  of  the 
apostolic  age  had  developed  by  logical  gradations  into  a 
compact  hierarchy  of  patriarchs,  bishops,  priests,  and 
deacons.  The  clergy  were  no  longer  the  servants  or 
representatives  of  the  people,  but  held  a  mediatorial 
position  as  the  channels  through  which  divine  grace 
was   transmitted  to   the   faithful.     The   great  Eastern 

48 


niTUAL  AND  SONG   IN   THE  EAniY  CHURCH 

liturgies,  such  as  those  which  bear  the  names  of  St. 
James  and  St.  Mark,  if  not  yet  fully  formulated  and 
committed  to  writing,  were  in  all  essentials  complete 
and  adopted  as  the  substance  of  the  public  worship. 
The  principal  service  was  divided  into  two  parts,  from 
the  second  of  which,  the  eucharistic  service  proper,  the 
catechumens  and  penitents  were  excluded.  The  prayers, 
readings,  and  chanted  sentences,  of  which  the  liturgy 
mainly  consisted,  were  delivered  by  priests,  deacons, 
and  an  officially  constituted  choir  of  singers,  the  con- 
gregation uniting  only  in  a  few  responses  and  ejacula- 
tions. In  the  liturgy  of  St.  Mark,  which  was  the 
Alexandrian,  used  in  Egypt  and  neighboring  countries, 
we  find  allotted  to  the  people  a  number  of  responses : 
"Amen,"  "Kyrie  eleison,"  "And  to  thy  spirit"  (in 
response  to  the  priest's  "Peace  be  to  all");  "We  lift 
them  up  to  the  Lord  "  (in  response  to  the  priest's  "  Let 
us  lift  up  our  hearts");  and  "In  the  name  of  the  Lord; 
Holy  God,  holy  mighty,  holy  immortal,"  after  the 
Trisagion;  "And  from  the  Holy  Spirit  was  he  made 
flesh,"  after  the  prayer  of  oblation;  "Holy,  holy,  holy 
Lord,"  before  the  consecration;  "Our  Father,  who  art 
in  heaven,"  etc. ;  before  the  communion,  "One  Father 
holy,  one  Son  holy,  one  Spirit  holy,  in  the  unity  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  Amen ; "  at  the  dismissal,  "  Amen,  blessed 
be  the  name  of  the  Lord." 

In  the  liturgy  of  St.  James,  the  liturgy  of  the  Jeru- 
salem Church,  a  very  similar  share,  in  many  instances 
with  identical  words,  is  assigned  to  the  people ;  but  a 
far  more  frequent  mention  is  made  of  the  choir  of 
fingers  who  render  the  Trisagion  hymn,  which,  in  St. 
4  la 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN   CHURCH 

Mark's  liturgy,  is  given  by  the  people;  besides  the 
"  Allelulia, "  the  hymn  to  the  Virgin  Mother,  "O  taste 
and  see  that  the  Lord  is  good,"  and  "The  Holy  Ghost 
shall  come  upon  thee,  and  the  power  of  the  Highest 
shall  overshadow  thee." 

A  large  portion  of  the  service,  as  indicated  by  these 
liturgies,  was  occupied  by  prayers,  during  which  the 
people  kept  silence.  In  the  matter  of  responses  the 
congregation  had  more  direct  share  than  in  the  Catholic 
Church  to-day,  for  now  the  chancel  choir  acts  as  their 
representatives,  while  the  Kyrie  eleison  has  become  one 
of  the  choral  portions  of  the  Mass,  and  the  Thrice  Holy 
has  been  merged  in  the  choral  Sanctus.  But  in  the 
liturgical  worship,  whatever  may  have  been  the  case  in 
non-liturgical  observances,  the  share  of  the  people  was 
confined  to  these  few  brief  ejaculations  and  prescribed 
sentences,  and  nothing  corresponding  to  the  congrega- 
tional song  of  the  Protestant  Church  can  be  found. 
Still  earlier  than  this  final  issue  of  the  ritualistic  move- 
ment the  singing  of  the  people  was  limited  to  psalm* 
and  canticles,  a  restriction  justified  and  perhaps  occa- 
sioned by  the  ease  with  which  doctrinal  vagaries  and 
mystical  extravagances  could  be  instilled  into  the  minds 
of  the  converts  by  means  of  this  very  subtle  and  persua- 
sive agent.  The  conflict  of  the  orthodox  churches  with 
the  Gnostics  and  Arians  showed  clearly  the  danger  of 
unlimited  license  in  tlie  production  and  singing  of 
hymns,  for  these  formidable  heretics  drew  large  num- 
bers away  from  the  faith  of  the  apostles  by  means  of  the 
choral  songs  which  they  emplo3'ed  everywhere  for 
proselyting  purposes.     The  Council  of  Laodicea  (held 

50 


RITUAL  AND  SONG  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

between  343  and  381)  decreed  in  its  13th  Canon ;  "  Be- 
sides the  appointed  singers,  who  mount  the  ambo  and 
sing  from  the  book,  others  shall  not  sing  in  the  church."  ^ 
The  exact  meaning  of  this  prohibition  has  not  been 
determined,  for  the  participation  of  the  people  in  the 
church  song  did  not  entirely  cease  at  this  time.  How 
generally  representative  this  council  was,  or  how  exten- 
sive its  authority,  is  not  known ;  but  the  importance  of 
this  decree  has  been  exaggerated  by  historians  of  music, 
for,  at  most,  it  serves  only  as  a  register  of  a  fact  which 
was  an  inevitable  consequence  of  the  universal  hier- 
archical and  ritualistic  tendencies  of  the  time. 

The  history  of  the  music  of  the  Christian  Church 
properly  begins  with  the  establishment  of  the  priestly 
liturgic  chant,  which  had  apparently  supplanted  the 
popular  song  in  the  public  worship  as  early  as  the  fourth 
century.  Of  the  character  of  the  chant  melodies  at  this 
period  in  the  Eastern  Church,  or  of  their  sources,  we 
have  no  positive  information.  Much  vain  conjecture 
has  been  expended  on  this  question.  Some  are  per- 
suaded that  the  strong  infusion  of  Hebraic  feeling  and 
phraseology  into  the  earliest  hymns,  and  the  adoption  of 
the  Hebrew  psalter  into  the  service,  necessarily  implies 
the  inheritance  of  the  ancient  temple  and  synagogue 
melodies  also.  Others  assume  that  the  allusion  of  St. 
Augustine  to  the  usage  at  Alexandria  under  St.  Atha- 
nasius,  which  was  "more  like  speaking  than  singing,"' 
was  an  example  of  tlie  practice  of  the  Oriental  and 
Roman   churches   generally,   and  that  the    later   chant 

^  Hefele,  I/istori/ofthr  f'nmiri'ls  o/tfie  C/i»rc/i,  translated  by  Oxenham 
'  St.  Augustine,  Confissious. 

51 


MUSIC  IN  THE   WESTERN  CHURCH 

developed  out  of  this  vague  song-speech.  Others,  like 
Kiesewetter,  exaggerating  the  antipathy  of  the  Chris- 
tians to  everything  identified  with  Judaism  and  pagan- 
ism, conceive  the  primitive  Christian  melodies  as  entirely 
an  original  invention,  a  true  Christian  folk-song.^  None 
of  these  suppositions,  however,  could  have  more  than  a 
local  and  temporary  application ;  the  Jewish  Christian 
congregations  in  Jerusalem  and  neighboring  cities 
doubtless  transferred  a  few  of  their  ancestral  melodies 
to  the  new  worship;  a  prejudice  against  highly  devel- 
oped tune  as  suggesting  the  sensuous  cults  of  paganism 
may  have  existed  among  the  more  austere;  here  and 
there  new  melodies  may  have  sprung  up  to  clothe  the 
extemporized  lyrics  that  became  perpetuated  in  the 
Church.  But  the  weight  of  evidence  and  analogy  in- 
clines to  the  belief  that  the  liturgic  song  of  the  Church, 
both  of  the  East  and  West,  was  drawn  partly  in  form 
and  almost  wholly  in  spirit  and  complexion  from  the 
Greek  and  Greco-Roman  musical  practice. 

But  scanty  knowledge  of  Christian  archaeology  and 
liturgies  is  necessary  to  show  that  much  of  form,  cere- 
mony, and  decoration  in  the  worship  of  the  Church  was 
the  adaptation  of  features  anciently  existing  in  the 
faiths  and  customs  which  the  new  religion  supplanted. 
The  practical  genius  which  adopted  Greek  metres  for 
Christian  hymns,  and  modified  the  styles  of  basilikas, 
scholae,  and  domestic  architecture  in  effecting  a  suitable 
form  of  church  building,  would  not  cavil  at  the  melodies 
and  vocal  methods  which  seemed  so  well  suited  to  be 
a  musical  garb  for  the  liturgies.  Greek  music  was, 
^  Kiesewetter,  Geschichte  der  europdisch-abendlandischen  Musik. 
52 


RITUAL  AND  SONG  IN   THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

indeed,  in  some  of  its  phases,  in  decadence  at  this 
period.  It  had  gained  nothing  in  purity  by  passing  into 
the  hands  of  Roman  voluptuaries.  The  age  of  the 
virtuosos,  aiming  at  brilliancy  and  sensationalism,  had 
succeeded  to  the  classic  traditions  of  austerity  and 
reserve.  This  change  was  felt,  however,  in  instru- 
mental music  chiefly,  and  this  the  Christian  churches 
disdained  to  touch.  It  was  the  residue  of  what  was 
pure  and  reverend,  drawn  from  the  tradition  of 
Apollo's  temple  and  the  Athenian  tragic  theatre;  it 
was  the  form  of  vocalism  which  austere  philosophers 
like  Plutarch  praised  that  was  drafted  into  the  service 
of  the  Gospel.  Perhaps  even  this  was  reduced  to  simple 
terms  in  the  Christian  practice;  certainly  the  oldest 
chants  that  can  be  traced  are  the  plainest,  and  the 
earliest  scale  system  of  the  Italian  Church  would  appear 
to  allow  but  a  very  narrow  compass  to  melody.  We 
can  form  our  most  accurate  notion  of  the  nature  of  the 
early  Christian  music,  therefore,  by  studying  the 
records  of  Greek  practice  and  Greek  views  of  music's 
nature  and  function  in  the  time  of  the  flowering  of 
Greek  poetry,  for  certainly  the  Christian  fathers  did 
not  attempt  to  go  beyond  that;  and  perhaps,  in  their 
zeal  to  avoid  all  that  was  meretricious  in  tonal  art,  they 
adopted  as  their  standard  those  phases  which  could 
most  easily  be  made  to  coalesce  with  the  inward  and 
humble  type  of  piety  inculcated  by  the  faith  of  the 
Gospel.  Tliis  liy})otliesis  does  not  imply  a  note-for- 
note  borrowing  of  (ireek  and  Roman  melodies,  but  only 
their  adaptation.  As  Luther  and  the  other  founders 
of  the  music    of  the   German  Protestant  Church  took 

63 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

melodies  from  the  Catholic  chant  and  the  German  and 
Bohemian  religious  and  secular  folk-song,  and  recast 
them  to  fit  the  metres  of  their  hymns,  so  the  early 
Christian  choristers  would  naturally  be  moved  to  do 
with  the  melodies  which  they  desired  to  transplant. 
Much  modification  was  necessary,  for  while  the  Greek 
and  Roman  songs  were  metrical,  the  Christian  psalms, 
antiphons,  prayers,  responses,  etc.,  were  unmetrical; 
and  while  the  pagan  melodies  were  always  sung  to  an 
instrumental  accompaniment,  the  church  chant  was 
exclusively  vocal.  Through  the  influence  of  this 
double  change  of  technical  and  aesthetic  basis,  the  litur- 
gic  song  was  at  once  more  free,  aspiring,  and  varied  than 
its  prototype,  taking  on  that  rhythmic  flexibility  and 
delicate  shading  in  which  also  the  unique  charm  of  the 
Catholic  chant  of  the  present  day  so  largely  consists. 

In  view  of  the  controversies  over  the  use  of  instru- 
mental music  in  worship,  which  have  been  so  violent  in 
the  British  and  American  Protestant  churches,  it  is  an 
interesting  question  whether  instruments  were  employed 
by  the  primitive  Christians.  We  know  that  instruments 
performed  an  important  function  in  the  Hebrew  temple 
service  and  in  the  ceremonies  of  the  Greeks.  At  this 
point,  however,  a  break  was  made  with  all  previous 
practice,  and  although  the  lyre  and  flute  were  some- 
times employed  by  the  Greek  converts,  as  a  general  rule 
the  use  of  instruments  in  worship  was  condemned. 
Many  of  the  fathers,  speaking  of  religious  song,  make 
no  mention  of  instruments ;  others,  like  Clement  of 
Alexandria  and  St.  Chrysostom,  refer  to  them  only  to 
denounce  them.     Clement  saj^s :  "  Only  one  instrument 

54 


RITUAL  AND  SONG  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

do  we  use,  viz.,  the  word  of  peace  wherewith  we  honor 
God,  no  longer  the  old  psaltery,  trumpet,  drum,  and 
flute."  Chrysostom  exclaims:  "David  formerly  sang 
in  psalms,  also  we  sing  to-day  with  him ;  he  had  a  lyre 
Avith  lifeless  strings,  the  Church  has  a  lyre  with  living 
strings.  Our  tongues  are  the  strings  of  the  lyre,  with 
a  different  tone,  indeed,  but  with  a  more  accordant 
piety."  St.  Ambrose  expresses  his  scorn  for  those  who 
would  play  the  lyre  and  psaltery  instead  of  singing 
hymns  and  psalms;  and  St.  Augustine  adjures  believ- 
ers not  to  turn  their  hearts  to  theatrical  instruments. 
The  religious  guides  of  the  early  Christians  felt  that 
there  would  be  an  incongruity,  and  even  profanity,  in 
the  use  of  the  sensuous  nerve-exciting  effects  of  in- 
strumental sound  in  their  mystical,  spiritual  worship. 
Their  high  religious  and  moral  enthusiasm  needed  no 
aid  from  external  stimulus;  the  pure  vocal  utterance 
was  the  more  proper  expression  of  their  faith.  This 
prejudice  against  instrumental  music,  which  was  drawn 
from  the  very  nature  of  its  aesthetic  impression,  was 
fortified  by  the  associations  of  instruments  with  super- 
stitious pagan  rites,  and  especially  with  the  corrupting 
scenes  habitually  represented  in  the  degenerate  theatre 
and  circus.  "A  Christian  maiden,"  says  St.  Jerome, 
"ought  not  even  to  know  what  a  lyre  or  a  flute  is, 
or  what  it  is  used  for."  No  further  justification  for 
such  prohibitions  is  needed  than  the  shameless  per- 
formances common  upon  the  stage  in  the  time  of 
the  Roman  empire,  as  portrayed  in  the  pages  of 
Apuleius  and  other  delineators  of  the  manners  of  the 
time.     Those    who  assumed   the   guardianship   of   the 

55 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

morals  of  the  little  Christian  communities  were  com- 
pelled to  employ  the  strictest  measures  to  prevent  their 
charges  from  breathing  the  moral  pestilence  which  cir- 
culated without  check  in  the  places  of  public  amusement; 
most  of  all  must  they  insist  that  every  reminder  of  these 
corruptions,  be  it  an  otherwise  innocent  harp  or  flute, 
should  be  excluded  from  the  common  acts  of  religion. 

The  transfer  of  the  office  of  song  from  the  general 
congregation  to  an  official  choir  involved  no  cessation  of 
the  production  of  hymns  for  popular  use,  for  the  dis- 
tinction must  always  be  kept  in  mind  between  liturgical 
and  non-liturgical  song,  and  it  was  only  in  the  former 
that  the  people  were  commanded  to  abstain  from  par- 
ticipation in  all  but  the  prescribed  responses.  On  the 
other  hand,  as  ceremonies  multiplied  and  festivals  in- 
creased in  number,  hymnody  was  stimulated,  and  lyric 
songs  for  private  and  social  edification,  for  the  hours  of 
prayer,  and  for  use  in  processions,  pilgrimages,  dedica- 
tions, and  other  occasional  celebrations,  were  rapidly 
produced.  As  has  been  shown,  the  Christians  had 
their  hymns  from  the  very  beginning,  but  with  the  ex- 
ception of  one  or  two  short  lyrics,  a  few  fragments,  and 
the  great  liturgical  hymns  which  were  also  adopted  by 
the  Western  Church,  they  have  been  lost.  Clement  of 
Alexandria,  third  century,  is  often  spoken  of  as  the 
first  known  Christian  hymn  writer ;  but  the  single  poem, 
the  song  of  praise  to  the  Logos,  which  has  gained  him 
this  title,  is  not,  strictly  speaking,  a  hymn  at  all. 
From  the  fourth  century  onward  the  tide  of  Oriental 
hymnody  steadily  rose,  reaching  its  culmination  in  the 
eighth  and  ninth  centuries.     The  Eastern   hymns  are 

56 


RITUAL  AND  SONG   IN  THE   EARLY  CHURCH 

divided  into  two  schools  —  the  Syrian  and  the  Greek. 
Of  the  group  of  Syrian  poets  the  most  celebrated  are 
Synesius,  born  about  375,  and  Ephraem,  who  died  at 
Edessa  in  378.  Ephraem  was  the  greatest  teacher  of 
his  time  in  the  Syrian  Church,  and  her  most  prolific  and 
able  hymnist.  He  is  best  remembered  as  the  opponent 
of  the  followers  of  Bardasanes  and  Harmonius,  who  had 
beguiled  many  into  their  Gnostic  errors  by  the  charm  of 
their  hymns  and  melodies.  Ephraem  met  these  schis- 
matics on  their  own  ground,  and  composed  a  large 
number  of  songs  in  the  spirit  of  orthodoxy,  which  he 
gave  to  choirs  of  his  followers  to  be  sung  on  Sundays 
and  festal  days.  The  hymns  of  Ephraem  were  greatly 
beloved  by  the  Syrian  Church,  and  are  still  valued  by 
the  Maronite  Christians.  The  Syrian  school  of  hymnody 
died  out  in  the  fifth  century,  and  poetic  inspiration  in 
the  Eastern  Church  found  its  channel  in  the  Greek  tongue. 
Before  the  age  of  the  Greek  Christian  poets  whose 
names  have  passed  into  liistory,  the  great  anonymous 
unmetrical  hymns  appeared  which  still  hold  an  eminent 
place  in  the  liturgies  of  the  Catholic  and  Protestant 
Churches  as  well  as  of  the  Eastern  Church.  The  best 
known  of  these  are  the  two  Glorias  —  the  Gloria  Patri 
and  the  Gloria  in  excelsis;  the  Ter  Sanctus  or  Cherubic 
hymn,  heard  by  Isaiah  in  vision;  and  the  Te  Deum. 
The  Magnificat  or  thanksgiving  of  Mary,  and  the 
Benedicite  or  Song  of  the  Three  Children,  were  early 
adojited  by  the  Eastern  Church.  The  Kyrie  eleison 
appears  as  a  response  by  the  people  in  the  liturgies  of 
St.  Mark  and  St.  James.  It  was  adopted  into  the 
Koman  liturgy  at  a  very  early  date ;  the  addition  of  the 

57 


MUSIC  IN  THE   WESTERN  CHURCH 

Christe  eleison  is  said  to  have  been  made  by  Gregory 
the  Great.  The  Gloria  in  excelsis,  the  "greater  dox- 
ology, "  with  the  possible  exception  of  the  Te  Deum  the 
noblest  of  the  early  Christian  hymns,  is  the  angelic  song 
given  in  Luke  ii.  14,  with  additions  which  were  made 
not  later  than  the  fourth  century.  "  Begun  in  heaven, 
finished  on  earth."  It  was  first  used  in  the  Eastern 
Church  as  a  morning  hymn.  The  Te  Deum  laudamus 
has  often  been  given  a  Western  origin,  St.  Ambrose 
and  St.  Augustine,  according  to  a  popular  legend,  hav- 
ing been  inspired  to  improvise  it  in  alternate  verses  at 
the  baptism  of  St.  Augustine  by  the  bishop  of  Milan. 
Another  tradition  ascribes  the  authorship  to  St.  Hilary 
in  the  fourth  century.  Its  original  form  is  unknown, 
but  it  is  generally  believed  to  have  been  formed  by 
accretions  upon  a  Greek  original.  Certain  phrases 
contained  in  it  are  also  in  the  earlier  liturgies.  The 
present  form  of  the  hymn  is  probably  as  old  as  the  fifth 
century.^ 

Of  the  very  few  brief  anonymous  songs  and  fragments 
which  have  come  down  to  us  from  this  dim  period  the 
most  perfect  is  a  Greek  hymn,  which  was  sometimes 
sung  in  private  worship  at  the  lighting  of  the  lamps. 
It  has  been  made  known  to  many  English  readers 
through  Longfellow's  beautiful  translation  in  "The 
Golden  Legend:  " 

"  O  gladsome  light 
Of  the  Father  immortal, 
And  of  the  celestial 
Sacred  and  blessed 

J  For  an  exhaustive  discussion  of  the  history  of  the  Te  Denm  see 
Julian's  Dictionary  of  Hymnology. 

58 


RITUAL  AND   SONG   IN   THE   EARLY  CHURCH 

Jesus,  our  Saviour  I 

Now  to  the  sunset 

Again  hast  thou  brought  us ; 

And  seeing  the  evening 

Twilight,  we  bless  thee, 

Praise  thee,  adore  thee 

Father  omnipotent ! 

Son,  the  Life-giver  I 

Spii'it,  the  Comforter ! 

Worthy  at  all  times 

Of  worship  and  wonder  I  " 

Overlapping  the  epoch  of  the  great  anonymous 
hymns  and  continuing  beyond  it  is  the  era  of  the 
Greek  hymnists  whose  names  and  works  are  known, 
and  who  contributed  a  vast  store  of  lyrics  to  the  offices 
of  the  Eastern  Church.  Eighteen  quarto  volumes, 
says  Dr.  J.  M.  Neale,  are  occupied  by  this  huge  store 
of  religious  poetry.  Dr.  Neale,  to  whom  the  English- 
speaking  world  is  chiefly  indebted  for  what  slight 
knowledge  it  has  of  these  hymns,  divides  them  into 
three  epochs  : 

1.  "That  of  formation,  when  this  poetry  was  grad- 
ually throwing  off  the  bondage  of  classical  metres,  and 
inventing  and  perfecting  its  various  styles ;  this  period 
ends  about  A.  D.  726." 

2.  "  That  of  perfection,  which  nearly  coincides  with 
the  period  of  the  iconoclastic  controversy,  726-820." 

3.  "  That  of  decadence,  when  the  effeteness  of  an 
effeminate  court  and  the  dissolution  of  a  decaying 
empire  reduced  ecclesiastical  poetry,  by  slow  degrees, 
to  a  stilted  bombast,  giving  great  words  to  little  mean- 
ing,   heaping   up   epithet    upon    epithet,    tricking   out 

commonplaces  in  diction  more  and  more  gorgeous,  till 

59 


MUSIC  IN   THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

sense  and  simplicity  are  alike  sought  in  vain;  820-- 
1400."! 

The  centres  of  Greek  hymnody  in  its  most  brilliant 
period  were  Sicily,  Constantinople,  and  Jerusalem  and 
its  neighborhood,  particularly  St.  Sabba's  monastery, 
where  lived  St.  Cosmas  and  St.  John  Damascene,  the 
two  greatest  of  the  Greek  Christian  poets.  The  hym- 
nists  of  this  epoch  preserved  much  of  the  narrative  style 
and  objectivity  of  the  earlier  writers,  especially  in  the 
hymns  written  to  celebrate  the  Nativity,  the  Epiphany, 
and  other  events  in  the  life  of  Christ.  In  others  a 
more  reflective  and  introspective  quality  is  found. 
The  fierce  struggles,  hatreds,  and  persecutions  of  the 
iconoclastic  controversy  also  left  their  plain  mark  upon 
many  of  them  in  a  frequent  tendency  to  magnify  temp- 
tations and  perils,  in  a  profound  sense  of  sin,  a  con- 
sciousness of  the  necessity  of  penitential  discipline  for 
the  attainment  of  salvation,  and  a  certain  fearful  look- 
ing-for of  judgment.  This  attitude,  so  different  from 
the  peace  and  confidence  of  the  earlier  time,  attains  its 
most  striking  manifestation  in  the  sombre  and  powerful 
funeral  dirge  ascribed  to  St.  John  Damascene  ("  Take 
the  last  kiss  ")  and  the  Judgment  hymn  of  St.  Theodore 
of  the  Studium.  In  the  latter  the  poet  strikes  with 
trembling  hand  the  tone  which  four  hundred  years  later 
was  sounded  with  such  imposing  majesty  in  the  Dies 
Irse  of  St.   Thomas  of  Celano. 

The  Catholic  hymnody,  so  far  at  least  as  concerns 
the  usage  of   the   ritual,    belongs   j)roperly  to   a   later 

1  Hymns  of  the  Eastern  Church,  translated,  •with  notes  and  an  iutro 
ductiou  by  J.  M.  Neale,   D.D. 

60 


RITUAL  AND  SONG  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

period.  The  hymns  of  St.  Hilary,  St.  Damasus,  St. 
Augustine,  St.  Ambrose,  Prudentius,  Fortunatus,  and 
St.  Gregory,  which  afterward  so  beautified  the  Divine 
Office,  were  originally  designed  for  private  devotion 
and  for  accessory  ceremonies,  since  it  was  not  until  the 
tenth  or  eleventh  century  that  hymns  were  introduced 
into  the  office  at  Rome,  following  a  tendency  that  was 
first  authoritatively  recognized  by  the  Council  of  Toledo 
in  the  seventh  century. 

The  history  of  Christian  poetry  and  music  in  the  East 
ends  with  the  separation  of  the  Eastern  and  Western 
Churches.  From  that  time  onward  a  chilling  blight 
rested  upon  the  soil  which  the  apostles  had  cultivated 
with  such  zeal  and  for  a  time  with  such  grand  result. 
The  fatal  controversy  over  icons,  the  check  inflicted  by 
the  conquests  of  the  Mohammedan  power,  the  crushing 
weight  of  Byzantine  luxury  and  tyranny,  and  that  in- 
sidious apathy  which  seems  to  dwell  in  the  very  atmos- 
phere of  the  Orient,  sooner  or  later  entering  into  every 
high  endeavor,  relaxing  and  corrupting — all  this  sapped 
the  spiritual  life  of  the  Eastern  Church.  The  pristine 
enthusiasm  was  succeeded  by  fanaticism,  and  out  of 
fanaticism,  in  its  turn,  issued  formalism,  bigotry,  stag- 
nation. It  was  only  among  the  nations  that  were  to 
rear  a  new  civilization  in  Western  Europe  on  the  foun- 
dations laid  by  the  Roman  empire  that  political  and 
social  conditions  could  be  created  which  would  give 
free  scope  for  the  expansion  of  the  divine  life  of 
Christianity.  It  was  only  in  the  West,  also,  that  the 
motives  that  were  adequate  to  inspire  a  Christian  art, 
after  a  long  struggle  against  Byzantine  formalism  and 

61 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

convention,  could  issue  in  a  prophetic  artistic  progress. 
The  attempted  reconciliation  of  Christian  ideas  and 
traditional  pagan  method  formed  the  basis  of  Chris- 
tian art,  but  the  new  insight  into  spiritual  things,  and 
the  profounder  emotions  that  resulted,  demanded  new 
ideals  and  principles  as  well  as  new  subjects.  The 
nature  and  destiny  of  the  soul,  the  beauty  and  signifi- 
cance that  lie  in  secret  self-scrutiny  and  aspiration 
kindled  by  a  new  hope,  this,  rather  than  the  loveliness 
of  outward  shape,  became  the  object  of  contemplation 
and  the  endless  theme  of  art.  Architecture  and  sculp- 
ture became  symbolic,  painting  the  presentation  of 
ideas  designed  to  stimulate  new  life  in  the  soul,  poetry 
and  music  the  direct  witness  and  the  immediate  mani- 
festation of  the  soul  itself. 

With  the  edicts  of  Constantine  early  in  the  fourth 
century,  which  practically  made  Christianity  the  domi- 
nant religious  system  of  the  empire,  the  swift  dilation 
of  the  pent-up  energy  of  the  Church  inaugurated  an  era 
in  which  ritualistic  splendor  kept  pace  with  the  rapid 
acquisition  of  temporal  power.  The  hierarchical  devel- 
opments had  already  traversed  a  course  parallel  to  those 
of  the  East,  and  now  that  the  Church  was  free  to  work 
out  that  genius  for  organization  of  which  it  had  already 
become  definitely  conscious,  it  went  one  step  farther 
than  the  Oriental  system  in  the  establishment  of  the 
papacy  as  the  single  head  from  which  the  subordinate 
members  derived  legality.  This  was  not  a  time  when 
a  democratic  form  of  church  government  could  endure. 
There  was  no  place  for  such  in  the  ideas  of  that  age. 
In  the  furious  tempests  that  overwhelmed  the  Roman 

62 


RITUAL   AND  SONG  IN  THE   EARLY   CHURCH 

empire,  in  the  readjustment  of  political  and  social  con- 
ditions all  over  Europe,  with  the  convulsions  and  fre- 
quent triumphs  of  savagery  that  inevitably  attended 
them,  it  was  necessary  that  the  Church,  as  the  sole 
champion  and  preserver  of  civilization  and  righteous- 
ness, should  concentrate  all  her  forces,  and  become  in 
doctrine,  worship,  and  government  a  single,  compact, 
unified,  spiritual  state.  The  dogmas  of  the  Church 
must  be  formulated,  preserved,  and  guarded  by  an 
official  class,  and  the  ignorant  and  fickle  mass  of  the 
common  people  must  be  taught  to  yield  a  reverent, 
unquestioning  obedience  to  the  rule  of  their  spiritual 
lords.  The  exposition  of  theology,  the  doctrine  of 
the  ever-renewed  sacrifice  of  Christ  upon  the  altar,  the 
theory  of  the  sacraments  generally,  all  involved  the  con- 
ception of  a  mediatorial  priegthood  deriving  its  authority 
by  direct  transmission  from  the  apostles.  Out  of  such 
conditions  and  tendencies  proceeded  also  the  elaborate 
and  awe-inspiring  rites,  the  fixed  liturgies  embalming 
the  central  dogmas  of  the  faith,  and  the  whole  ma- 
chinery of  a  worship  which  was  itself  viewed  as  of  an 
objective  efficacy,  inspired  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  and 
designed  both  for  the  edification  of  the  believer  and 
as  an  offering  of  the  Church  to  its  Redeemer.  In  the 
development  of  the  outward  observances  of  worship, 
with  their  elaborate  symbolic  ceremonialism,  the  student 
is  often  struck  with  surprise  to  see  how  lavishly  the 
Church  drew  its  forms  and  decorations  from  paganism 
and  Judaism.  But  there  is  nothing  in  this  that  need 
excite  wonder,  nothing  that  was  not  inevitable  under 
the    conditions   of    the   times.      Says   Lanciani:    "In 

63 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN   CHURCH 

accepting  rites  and  customs  which  were  not  offensive 
to  her  principles  and  morality,  the  Church  showed 
equal  tact  and  foresight,  and  contributed  to  the  peace- 
ful accomplishment  of  the  transformation."^  The 
pagan  or  Jewish  convert  was  not  obliged  to  part  with 
all  his  ancestral  notions  of  the  nature  of  worship.  He 
found  his  love  of  pomp  and  splendor  gratified  by  the 
ceremonies  of  a  religion  which  knew  how  to  make 
many  of  the  fair  features  of  earthly  life  accessory  to 
the  inculcation  of  spiritual  truth.  And  so  it  was  that 
symbolism  and  the  appeal  to  the  senses  aided  in  com- 
mending Christianity  to  a  world  which  was  not  yet 
prepared  for  a  faith  which  should  require  only  a  silent, 
unobtrusive  experience.  Instruction  must  come  to  the 
populace  in  forms  which  would  satisfy  their  inherited 
predispositions.  The  Church,  therefore,  establishing 
itself  amidst  heathenism,  adopted  a  large  number  of 
rites  and  customs  from  classical  antiquity;  and  in  the 
externals  of  its  worship,  as  well  as  of  its  government, 
assumed  forms  which  were  contributions  from  without, 
as  well  as  evolutions  from  within.  These  acquisitions, 
however,  did  not  by  any  means  remain  a  meaningless 
or  incongruous  residuum  of  dead  superstitions.  An 
instructive  symbolism  was  imparted  to  them;  they 
were  moulded  with  marvellous  art  into  the  whole  ves- 
ture with  which  the  Church  clothed  herself  for  her 
temporal  and  spiritual  office,  and  were  made  to  become 
conscious  witnesses  to  the  truth  and  beauty  of  the  new 
faith. 

The  commemoration  of  martyrs  and  confessors  passed 

^  Lanciani,  Pagan  and  Christian  Rome. 

-64, 


RITUAL  AND  SONG  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

into  invocations  for  their  aid  as  intercessors  with  Christ. 
They  became  the  patron  saints  of  individuals  and  or- 
ders, and  honors  were  paid  to  them  at  particular  places 
and  on  particular  days,  involving  a  multitude  of  special 
ritual  observances.  Festivals  were  multiplied  and  took 
the  place  in  popular  regard  of  the  old  Roman  Lupercalia 
and  Saturnalia  and  the  mystic  rites  of  heathenism.  As 
among  the  cultivated  nations  of  antiquity,  so  in  Chris- 
tian Rome  the  festival,  calling  into  requisition  every 
available  means  of  decoration,  became  the  basis  of  a 
rapid  development  of  art.  Under  all  these  conditions 
the  music  of  the  Church  in  Italy  became  a  liturgic 
music,  and,  as  in  the  East,  the  laity  resigned  the  main 
offices  of  song  to  a  choir  consisting  of  subordinate  clergy 
and  appointed  by  clerical  authority.  The  method  of 
singing  was  undoubtedly  not  indigenous,  but  derived, 
as  already  suggested,  directly  or  indirectly  from  East- 
ern practice.  Milman  asserts  that  the  liturgy  of  the 
Roman  Church  fur  the  first  three  centuries  was  Greek. 
However  this  may  have  been,  we  know  that  both  Syriac 
and  Greek  influences  were  strong  at  that  time  in  the 
Italian  Church.  A  number  of  the  popes  in  the  seventh 
century  were  Greeks.  Until  the  cleavage  of  the  Church 
into  its  final  Eastern  and  Western  divisions  the  inter- 
action was  strong  between  the  tvVo  sections,  and  much 
in  the  way  of  custom  and  art  was  conmion  to  both. 
The  conquests  of  the  Moslem  power  in  the  seventh  cen- 
tury drove  many  Syrian  monks  into  Italy,  and  their 
liturgic  practice,  half  Greek,  half  Semitic,  could  not 
fail  to  make  itself  felt  among  their  adopted  brethren. 
A  notable  instance  of  the  transference  of  Oriental 
5  65 


MUSIC  IN   THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

custom  into  the  Italian  Church  is  to  be  found  in  the 
establishment  of  antiphonal  chanting  in  the  Church  of 
Milan,  at  the  instance  of  St.  Ambrose,  bishop  of  that 
city.  St.  Augustine,  the  pupil  and  friend  of  St.  Am- 
brose, has  given  an  account  of  this  event,  of  which  he 
had  personal  knowledge.  "  It  was  about  a  year,  or  not 
much  more,"  he  relates,  "since  Justina,  the  mother  of 
the  boy-emperor  Justinian,  persecuted  thy  servant 
Ambrose  in  the  interest  of  her  heresy,  to  which  she 
had  been  seduced  by  the  Arians."  [This  persecution 
was  to  induce  St.  Ambrose  to  surrender  some  of  the 
churches  of  the  city  to  the  Arians.]  "The  pious  people 
kept  guard  in  the  church,  prepared  to  die  with  their 
bishop,  thy  servant.  At  this  time  it  was  instituted 
that,  after  the  manner  of  the  Eastern  Church,  hymns 
and  psalms  should  be  sung,  lest  the  people  should  pine 
away  in  the  tediousness  of  sorrow,  which  custom,  re- 
tained from  then  till  now,  is  imitated  by  many  —  yea, 
by  almost  all  of  thy  congregations  throughout  the  rest 
of  the  world."  ^ 

The  conflict  of  St.  Ambrose  with  the  Arians  occurred 
in  386.  Before  the  introduction  of  the  antiphonal 
chant  the  psalms  were  probably  rendered  in  a  semi- 
musical  recitation,  similar  to  the  usage  mentioned  by 
St.  Augustine  as  prevailing  at  Alexandria  under  St. 
Athanasius,  "more  speaking  than  singing."  That  a 
more  elaborate  and  emotional  style  was  in  use  at  Milan 
in  St.  Augustine's  time  is  proved  by  the  very  interest- 
ing passage  in  the  tenth  book  of  the  Co7ifes8ion8,  in 
which  he  analyzes  the  effect  upon  himself  of  the  music 

1  St.  Augustine,  Confessions,  book  ix.  chap.  7. 

6ff 


RITUAL  AND   SONG   IN   THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

of  the  Church,  fearing  lest  its  charm  had  beguiled  him 
from  pious  absorption  in  the  sacred  words  into  a  purely 
aesthetic  gratification.  He  did  not  fail,  however,  to 
render  the  just  meed  of  honor  to  the  music  that  so 
touched  him:  "How  I  wept  at  thy  hymns  and  can- 
ticles, pierced  to  the  quick  by  the  voices  of  thy  melo- 
dious Church !  Those  voices  flowed  into  my  ears,  and 
the  truth  distilled  into  my  heart,  and  thence  there 
streamed  forth  a  devout  emotion,  and  my  tears  ran 
down,  and  happy  was  I  therein."^ 

Antiphonal  psalmody,  after  the  pattern  of  that  em- 
ployed at  Milan,  was  introduced  into  the  divine  office 
at  Rome  by  Pope  Celestine,  who  reigned  422-432.  It 
is  at  about  this  time  that  we  find  indications  of  the  more 
systematic  development  of  the  liturgic  priestly  chant. 
The  history  of  the  papal  choir  goes  back  as  far  as  the 
fifth  century.  Leo  I.,  who  died  in  461,  gave  a  durable 
organization  to  the  divine  office  by  establishing  a  com- 
munity of  monks  to  be  especially  devoted  to  the  service 
of  the  canonical  hours.  In  the  year  580  the  monks  of 
Monte  Cassino,  founded  by  St.  Benedict,  suddenly 
appeared  in  Rome  and  announced  the  destruction  of 
their  monastery  by  the  Lombards.  Pope  Pelagius 
received  them  hospitably,  and  gave  them  a  dwelling 
near  the  Lateran  basilica.  This  cloister  became  a 
means  of  providing  the  papal  chapel  with  singers.  In 
connection  with  the  college  of  men  singers,  who  held 
the  clerical  title  of  sub-deacon,  stood  an  establishment 
for  boys,  who  were  to  be  trained  for  service  in  the 
pope's  choir,  and  who  were  also  given  instruction  in 

1  St.  Auguitiue,  Confessions,  book  ix.  chap.  6. 

67 


MUSIC  IN    THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

other  branches.  This  school  received  pupils  from  the 
wealthiest  and  most  distinguished  families,  and  a  num- 
ber of  the  early  popes,  including  Gregory  II.  and  Paul 
I.,  received  instruction  within  its  walls. 

By  the  middle  or  latter  part  of  the  sixth  century,  the 
mediaeval  epoch  of  church  music  had  become  fairly 
inaugurated.  A  large  body  of  liturgic  chants  had 
been  classified  and  systematized,  and  the  teaching  of 
their  form  and  the  tradition  of  their  rendering  given 
into  the  hands  of  members  of  the  clergy  especially 
detailed  for  their  culture.  The  liturgy,  essentially 
completed  during  or  shortly  before  the  reign  of  Greg- 
ory the  Great  (590-604),  was  given  a  musical  setting 
throughout,  and  this  liturgic  chant  was  made  the  law 
of  the  Church  equally  with  the  liturgy  itself,  and  the 
first  steps  were  taken  to  impose  one  uniform  ritual  and 
one  uniform  chant  upon  all  the  congregations  of  the 
West. 

It  was,  therefore,  in  the  first  six  centuries,  when  the 
Church  was  organizing  and  drilling  her  forces  for  her 
victorious  conflicts,  that  the  final  direction  of  her  music, 
as  of  all  her  art,  was  consciously  taken.  In  rejecting 
the  support  of  instruments  and  developing  for  the  first 
time  an  exclusively  vocal  art,  and  in  breaking  loose 
from  the  restrictions  of  antique  metre  which  in  Greek 
and  Greco-Roman  music  had  forced  melody  to  keep  step 
with  strict  prosodic  measure,  Christian  music  parted 
company  with  pagan  art,  threw  the  burden  of  expression 
not,  like  Greek  music,  upon  rhythm,  but  upon  melody, 
and  found  in  this  absolute  vocal  melody  a  new  art  prin- 
ciple of  which  all  the  worship  music  of  modern  Chris- 

68 


RITUAL   AND  SONG   IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

tendom  is  the  natural  fruit.  More  vital  still  than  these 
special  forms  and  principles,  comprehending  and  neces- 
sitating them,  was  the  true  ideal  of  music,  proclaimed 
once  for  all  by  the  fathers  of  the  liturgy.  This  ideal 
is  found  in  the  distinction  of  the  church  style  from  the 
secular  style,  the  expression  of  the  universal  mood  of 
prayer,  rather  than  the  expression  of  individual,  fluc- 
tuating, passionate  emotion  with  which  secular  music 
deals  —  that  rapt,  pervasive,  exalted  tone  which  makes 
no  attempt  at  detailed  painting  of  events  or  superficial 
mental  states,  but  seems  rather  to  symbolize  the  fun- 
damental sentiments  of  humility,  awe,  hope,  and  love 
which  mingle  all  particular  experiences  in  the  com- 
mon offering  that  surges  upward  from  the  heart  of  the 
Church  to  its  Lord  and  Master.  In  this  avoidance  of 
an  impassioned  emphasis  of  details  in  favor  of  an  ex- 
pression drawn  from  the  large  spirit  of  worship,  church 
music  evades  the  peril  of  introducing  an  alien  dramatic 
element  into  the  holy  ceremony,  and  asserts  its  nobler 
power  of  creating  an  atmosphere  from  which  all  worldly 
custom  and  association  disappear.  This  grand  concep- 
tion was  early  injected  into  the  mind  of  the  Church, 
and  has  been  the  parent  of  all  that  has  been  most  noble 
and  edifying  in  the  creations  of  ecclesiastical  music. 


69 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  LITURGY  OP  THE  CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

There  is  no  derogation  of  the  honor  due  to  the 
Catholic  Church  in  the  assertion  that  a  large  element 
in  the  extraordinary  spell  which  she  has  always  exer- 
cised upon  the  minds  of  men  is  to  be  found  in  the 
beauty  of  her  liturgy,  the  solemn  magnificence  of  her 
forms  of  woi-ship,  and  the  glorious  products  of  artistic 
genius  with  which  those  forms  have  been  embellished. 
Every  one  who  has  accustomed  himself  to  frequent 
places  of  Catholic  worship  at  High  Mass,  especially  the 
cathedrals  of  the  old  world,  whether  he  is  in  sympathy 
with  the  idea  of  that  worship  or  not,  must  have  been 
impressed  witli  something  peculiarly  majestic,  elevating, 
and  moving  in  the  spectacle;  he  must  have  felt  as  if 
drawn  by  some  irresistible  fascination  out  of  his  accus- 
tomed range  of  thought,  borne  by  a  spiritual  tide  that 
sets  toward  regions  unexplored.  The  music  which 
pervades  the  mystic  ceremony  is  perhaps  the  chief  agent 
of  this  mental  reaction  through  the  peculiar  spell  which 
the  very  nature  of  music  enables  it  to  exert  upon  the 
emotion.  Music  in  the  Catholic  ritual  seems  to  act 
almost  in  excess  of  its  normal  efficacy.  It  may,  without 
impropriety,  be  compared  to  the  music  of  the  dramatic 

70 


THE  LITURGY  OF  THE   CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

stage  in  the  aid  it  derives  from  accessories  and  poetic 
association.  The  music  is  such  a  vital  constituent  of 
the  whole  act  of  devotion  that  the  impressions  drawn 
from  the  liturgy,  ceremony,  architecture,  decoration, 
and  the  sublime  memories  of  a  venerable  past  are  all 
insensibly  invoked  to  lend  to  the  tones  of  priest  and 
choir  and  organ  a  grandeur  not  their  own.  This  is  the 
reason  why  Catholic  music,  even  when  it  is  tawdry  and 
sensational,  or  indifferently  performed,  has  a  certain  air 
of  nobility.  The  ceremony  is  always  imposing,  and  the 
music  which  enfolds  the  act  of  worship  like  an  atmos- 
phere must  inevitably  absorb  somewhat  of  the  dignity 
of  the  rite  to  which  it  ministers.  And  when  the  music 
in  itself  is  the  product  of  the  highest  genius  and  is 
rendered  with  reverence  and  skill,  the  effect  upon  a 
sensitive  mind  is  more  solemnizing  than  that  obtained 
from  any  other  variety  of  musical  experience. 

This  secret  of  association  and  artistic  setting  must 
always  be  taken  into  account  if  we  would  measure  the 
peculiar  power  of  the  music  of  the  Catholic  Church. 
We  must  observe  that  music  is  only  one  of  many  means 
of  impression,  and  is  made  to  act  not  alone,  but  in 
union  with  reinforcing  agencies.  These  agencies  — 
which  include  all  the  elements  of  the  ceremony  that 
affect  the  eye  and  the  imagination  —  are  intended  to 
supplement  and  enhance  each  other;  and  in  analyzing 
the  attractive  force  which  the  Catholic  Church  has 
always  exercised  upon  minds  vastly  diverse  in  culture, 
we  cannot  fail  to  admire  the  consummate  skill  with 
which  she  has  made  her  appeal  to  the  universal  suscep- 
tibility to  ideas  of  beauty  and  grandeur  and  mystery  as 

71 


MUSIC  IN   THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

embodied  in  sound  and  form.  The  union  of  the  arts 
for  the  sake  of  an  immediate  and  undivided  effect,  of 
which  we  have  heard  so  much  in  recent  years,  was 
achieved  by  the  Catholic  Church  centuries  ago.  She 
rears  the  most  sumptuous  edifices,  decorates  their  walls 
with  masterpieces  of  painting,  fills  everj'  sightly  nook 
with  sculptures  in  wood  and  stone,  devises  a  ritual  of 
ingenious  variety  and  lavish  splendor,  pours  over  this 
ritual  music  that  alternately  subdues  and  excites,  ad- 
justs all  these  means  so  that  each  shall  heighten  the 
effect  of  the  othei-s  and  seize  upon  the  perceptions  at 
the  same  moment.  In  employing  these  artistic  agencies 
the  Church  has  taken  cognizance  of  every  degree  of 
enlightenment  and  variety  of  temper.  For  the  vulgar 
she  has  garish  display,  for  the  superstitious  wonder  and 
concealment;  for  the  refined  and  reflective  she  clothes 
her  doctrines  in  the  fairest  guise  and  makes  worship  an 
aesthetic  delight.  Her  worship  centres  in  a  mystery  — 
the  Real  Presence  —  and  this  mystery  she  embellishes 
with  every  allurement  that  can  startle,  delight,  and 
enthrall. 

Symbolism  and  artistic  decoration  —  in  the  use  of 
which  the  Catholic  Church  has  exceeded  all  other  reli- 
gious institutions  except  her  sister  Church  of  the  East 
• —  are  not  mere  extraneous  additions,  as  though  they 
might  be  cut  off  without  essential  loss  ;  they  are  the 
natural  outgrowth  of  her  very  spirit  and  genius,  the 
proper  outward  manifestation  of  the  idea  which  per- 
vades her  culture  and  her  worship.  Minds  that  need 
no  external  quickening,  but  love  to  rise  above  cere- 
monial observances  and  seek  immediate  contact  with  the 


THE  LITURGY  OF  THE   CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

divine  source  of  life,  are  comparatively  rare.  Mysti- 
cism is  not  for  the  multitude ;  the  majority  of  mankind 
require  that  spiritual  influences  shall  come  to  them  in 
the  guise  of  that  which  is  tangible;  a  certain  nervous 
thrill  is  needed  to  shock  them  out  of  their  accustomed 
material  habitudes.  Recognizing  this  fact,  and  having 
taken  up  into  her  system  a  vast  number  of  ideas  which 
inevitably  require  objective  representation  in  order  that 
they  may  be  realized  and  operative,  the  Catholic  Church 
has  even  incurred  the  charge  of  idolatry  on  account  of 
the  extreme  use  she  has  made  of  images  and  symbols. 
But  it  may  be  that  in  this  she  has  shown  greater  wis- 
dom than  those  who  censure  her.  She  knows  that  the 
externals  of  religious  observance  must  be  endowed  with 
a  large  measure  of  sensuous  charm  if  they  would  seize 
hold  upon  the  affections  of  the  bulk  of  mankind.  She 
knows  that  spiritual  aspiration  and  the  excitement  of 
the  senses  can  never  be  entirely  separated  in  actual 
public  worship,  and  she  would  run  the  risk  of  subordi- 
nating the  first  to  the  second  rather  than  offer  a  service 
of  bare  intellectuality  empty  of  those  persuasions  which 
artistic  genius  offers,  and  which  are  so  potent  to  bend 
the  heart  in  reverence  and  submission. 

In  the  study  of  the  Catholic  system  of  rites  and  cere- 
monies, together  with  their  motive  and  development, 
the  great  problem  of  the  relation  of  religion  and  art 
meets  us  squarely.  Tlie  Catholic  Church  has  not  been 
satisfied  to  prescribe  fixed  forms  and  actions  for  every 
devotional  impulse — she  has  aimed  to  make  those  forms 
and  actions  beautiful.  There  lias  been  no  phase  of  art 
which   could  be  devoted   to  this  object   that  has  not 

73 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

offered  to  her  the  choicest  of  its  achievements.  And 
not  for  decoration  merely,  not  simply  to  subjugate  the 
spirit  by  fascinating  the  senses,  but  rather  impelled  by 
an  inner  necessity  which  has  effected  a  logical  alliance 
of  the  special  powers  of  art  with  the  aims  and  needs  of 
the  Church.  Whatever  may  be  the  attitude  toward  the 
claims  of  this  great  institution,  no  one  of  sensibility  can 
deny  that  the  world  has  never  seen,  and  is  never  likely 
to  see,  anything  fairer  or  more  majestic  than  that  sub- 
lime structure,  compounded  of  architecture,  sculpture, 
and  painting,  and  informed  by  poetry  and  music,  which 
the  Church  created  in  the  Middle  Age,  and  fixed  in 
enduring  mould  for  the  wondering  admiration  of  all 
succeeding  time.  Every  one  who  studies  it  with  a 
view  to  searching  its  motive  is  compelled  to  admit  that 
it  was  a  work  of  sincere  conviction.  It  came  from  no 
"  vain  or  shallow  thought ;  "  it  testifies  to  something  in 
the  heart  of  Catholicism  that  has  never  failed  to  stir 
the  most  passionate  affection,  and  call  forth  the  lofti- 
est efforts  of  artistic  skill.  This  marvellous  product  of 
Catholic  art,  immeasurable  in  its  variety,  has  gathered 
around  the  rites  and  ordinances  of  the  Church,  and  taken 
from  them  its  spirit,  its  forms,  and  its  tendencies;  — 
architecture  to  erect  a  suitable  enclosure  for  worship, 
and  to  symbolize  the  conception  of  the  visible  kingdom 
of  Christ  in  time  and  of  the  eternal  kingdom  of  Christ 
in  heaven ;  sculpture  to  adorn  this  sanctuary,  and  stand- 
ing like  the  sacred  edifice  itself  in  closest  relation  to 
the  centre  of  churchly  life  and  deriving  from  that  its 
purpose  and  norm ;  painting  performing  a  like  function, 
and  also  more  definitely  acting  for  instruction,  vividly 

74 


THE  LITURGY  OF  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

illustrating  the  doctrines  and  traditions  of  the  faith, 
directing  the  thought  of  the  believer  more  intently  to 
their  moral  purport  and  ideal  beauty ;  poetry  and  music, 
the  very  breath  of  the  liturgy  itself,  acting  immediately 
upon  the  heart,  kindling  the  latent  sentiment  of  rever- 
ence into  lively  emotions  of  joy  and  love.  In  the  em- 
ployment of  rites  and  ceremonies  with  their  sumptuous 
artistic  setting,  in  the  large  stress  that  is  laid  upon 
prescribed  forms  and  external  acts  of  worship,  the 
Catholic  Church  has  been  actuated  by  a  conviction 
from  which  she  has  never  for  an  instant  swerved.  This 
conviction  is  twofold:  first,  that  the  believer  is  aided 
thereby  in  the  offering  of  an  absorbed,  fervent,  and 
sincere  worship ;  and  second,  that  it  is  not  only  fitting, 
but  a  duty,  that  all  that  is  most  precious,  the  product 
of  the  highest  development  of  the  powers  that  God  has 
given  to  man,  should  be  offered  as  a  witness  of  man's 
love  and  adoration,  —  that  the  expenditure  of  wealth  in 
the  erection  and  decoration  of  God's  sanctuaries,  and 
the  tribute  of  the  highest  artistic  skill  in  the  creation 
of  forms  of  beauty,  are  worthy  of  his  immeasurable 
glory  and  of  ourselves  as  his  dependent  children.  Says 
Cardinal  Gibbons :  "  The  ceremonies  of  the  Church  not 
only  render  the  divine  service  mOre  solemn,  but  they 
also  rivet  and  captivate  our  attention  and  lift  it  up  to 
God.  Our  mind  is  so  active,  so  volatile,  and  full  of 
distractions,  our  imagination  is  so  fickle,  that  we  have 
need  of  some  external  objects  on  which  to  fix  our 
thoughts.  True  devotion  must  be  interior  and  come 
from  the  heart;  but  we  are  not  to  infer  that  exterior 
worship  is  to  be  condemned  because  interior  worship  is 

75 


MUSIC  IN  THE   WESTERN  CHURCH 

prescribed  as  essential.  On  the  contrary,  the  rites  and 
ceremonies  which  are  enjoined  in  the  worship  of  God 
and  in  the  administration  of  the  sacraments  are  dic- 
tated by  right  reason,  and  are  sanctioned  by  Almighty 
God  in  the  old  law,  and  by  Christ  and  his  apostles  in 
the  new."^  "Not  by  the  human  understanding,"  says 
a  writer  in  the  Ccecilien  Kalendar,  "was  the  ritual 
devised,  man  knows  not  whence  it  came.  Its  origin 
lies  outside  the  inventions  of  man,  like  the  ideas  which 
it  presents.  The  liturgy  arose  with  the  faith,  as  speech 
with  thought.  What  the  body  is  for  the  soul,  such  is 
the  liturgy  for  religion.  Everything  in  the  uses  of  the 
Church,  from  the  mysterious  ceremonies  of  the  Mass 
and  of  Good  Friday,  to  the  summons  of  the  evening 
bell  to  prayer,  is  nothing  else  than  the  eloquent  expres- 
sion of  the  content  of  the  redemption  of  the  Son  of 
God."  2 

Since  the  ritual  is  prayer,  the  offering  of  the  Church 
to  God  through  commemoration  and  representation  as 
well  as  through  direct  appeal,  so  the  whole  ceremonial, 
act  as  well  as  word,  blends  with  this  conception  of 
prayer,  not  as  embellishment  merely  but  as  constituent 
factor.  Hence  the  large  use  of  symbolism,  and  even  of 
semi-dramatic  representation.  "  When  I  speak  of  the 
dramatic  form  of  our  ceremonies,"  says  Cardinal  Wise- 
man, "I  make  no  reference  whatever  to  outward  dis- 
play; and  I  choose  that  epithet  for  the  reason  that  the 
poverty  of  language  affords  me  no  other  for  my  mean- 
ing.    The  object  and  power  of  dramatic  poetry  consist 

1  Gibbons,  The  Faith  of  our  Fathers,  chap.  24. 
"  CoEcilien  Kalendar  (Regensburg),  1879. 

76 


THE  LITURGY  OF  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

in  its  being  not  merely  descriptive  but  representative. 
Its  character  is  to  bear  away  the  imagination  and  soul 
to  the  view  of  what  others  witnessed,  and  excite  in  us, 
through  their  words,  such  impressions  as  we  might 
have  felt  on  the  occasion.  The  service  of  the  Church 
is  eminently  poetical,  the  dramatic  power  runs  through 
the  service  in  a  most  marked  manner,  and  must  be  kept 
in  view  for  its  right  understanding.  Thus,  for  example, 
the  entire  service  for  the  dead,  office,  exequies,  and 
Mass,  refers  to  the  moment  of  death,  and  bears  the 
imagination  to  the  awful  crisis  of  separation  of  soul 
and  body."  "  In  like  manner  the  Church  prepares  us 
during  Advent  for  the  commemoration  of  our  dear 
Redeemer's  birth,  as  though  it  were  really  yet  to  take 
place.  As  the  festival  approaches,  the  same  ideal  re- 
turn to  the  very  moment  and  circumstances  of  our 
divine  Redeemer's  birth  is  expressed ;  all  the  glories 
of  the  day  are  represented  to  the  soul  as  if  actually 
occurring."  "  This  principle,  which  will  be  found  to 
animate  the  church  service  of  every  other  season,  rules 
most  remarkably  that  of  Holy  Week,  and  gives  it  life 
and  soul.  It  is  not  intended  to  be  merely  commemora- 
tive or  historical ;  it  is,  strictly  speaking,  representa- 
tive." ^  "  The  traditions  and  rules  of  church  art,"  says 
Jakob,  "  are  by  no  means  arbitrary,  they  are  not  an 
external  accretion,  but  they  proceed  from  within  out- 
ward, they  have  grown  organically  from  the  guiding 
spirit  of  the  Church,  out  of  the  requirements  of  her 
worship.     Therein  lies  the   justification   of  symbolism 

1  Wi.-ipman,    Four    Lfctures    on   the    Offices   and    Ceremonies   of   Holy 
Wttl:  OS  jiiijonued  in  the  Papal   Chapels,  delivered  in  Rome,  1SS7. 

77 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

and  symbolic  representation  in  ecclesiastical  art.  The 
church  of  stone  must  be  a  speaking  image  of  the  living 
Church  and  her  mysteries ;  the  pictures  on  the  walls 
and  on  the  altars  are  not  mere  ornament  for  the  eye, 
but  for  the  heart  a  book  full  of  instruction,  a  sermon 
full  of  truth.  And  thereby  is  art  raised  to  be  a  partici- 
pant in  the  work  of  edifying  the  believers ;  it  becomes 
a  profound  teacher  of  thousands,  a  bearer  and  preserver 
of  great  ideas  for  the  centuries."  ^  "  Our  Holy  Church," 
says  a  German  priest,  "which  completely  understands 
the  nature  and  the  needs  of  humanity,  presents  to  us 
divine  truth  and  grace  in  sensible  form,  in  order  that 
by  this  means  they  may  be  more  easily  grasped  and 
more  securely  appropriated  by  us.  The  law  of  sense 
perception,  which  constitutes  so  important  a  factor  in 
human  education,  forms  also  a  fundamental  law  in  the 
action  of  Holy  Church,  whereby  she  seeks  to  raise  us 
out  of  this  earthly  material  life  into  the  supernatural 
life  of  grace.  She  therefore  confers  upon  us  redemp- 
tive grace  in  the  holy  sacraments  in  connection  with 
external  signs,  through  which  the  inner  grace  is 
shadowed  forth  and  accomplished,  as  for  instance  the 
inward  washing  of  the  soul  from  sin  in  baptism  through 
the  outward  washing  of  the  body.  In  like  manner  the 
eye  of  the  instructed  Catholic  sees  in  the  symbolic 
ceremonies  of  the  holy  sacrifice  of  the  Mass  the  thrill- 
ing representation  of  the  fall  of  man,  our  redemption, 
and  finally  our  glorification  at  the  second  coming  of 
our  Lord.  Out  of  this  ground  law  of  presentation  to 
the  senses  has  arisen  the  whole  liturgy  of  the  Church, 

^  Jakob,  Die  Kunst  im  Dienste  der  Kirche. 

78 


THE  LITURGY  OF  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

i.  e.,  the  sum  of  all  religious  actions  and  prayers  to 
the  honor  of  God  and  the  communication  of  his  grace 
to  us,  and  this  whole  expressive  liturgy  forms  at  once 
the  solemn  ceremonial  in  the  sanctuary  of  the  Heavenly 
King,  in  which  he  receives  our  adoration  and  bestows 
upon  us  the  most  plentiful  tokens  of  his  favor,"  ^ 

These  citations  sufficiently  indicate  the  mind  of  the 
Catholic  Church  in  respect  to  the  uses  of  ritual  and 
symbolic  ceremony.  The  prime  intention  is  the  in- 
struction and  edification  of  the  believer,  but-  it  is  evi- 
dent that  a  necessary  element  in  this  edification  is  the 
thought  that  the  rite  is  one  composite  act  of  worship, 
a  prayer,  an  offering  to  Almighty  God.  This  is  the 
theory  of  Catholic  art,  the  view  which  pious  church- 
men have  always  entertained  of  the  function  of  artistic 
forms  in  worship.  That  all  the  pi'oducts  of  religious 
art  in  Catholic  communities  have  been  actuated  by  this 
motive  alone  would  be  too  much  to  say.  The  principle 
of  "art  for  art's  sake,"  precisely  antagonistic  to  the 
traditional  ecclesiastical  principle,  has  often  made  itself 
felt  in  periods  of  relapsed  zeal,  and  artists  have  em- 
ployed traditional  subjects  out  of  habit  or  policy,  find- 
ing them  as  good  as  any  others  as  bases  for  experiments 
in  the  achievement  of  sensuous  charm  in  form,  texture, 
and  color.  But  so  far  as  changeless  dogma,  liturgic 
unity,  and  consistent  tradition  have  controlled  artistic 
effort,  individual  determination  has  been  allowed  enough 
play  to  save  art  from  petrifying  into  a  hieratic  for- 
malism, but  not  enough  to  endanger  the  faith,  morals, 

1  Sermon  by  Dr.  Leonhard  Kuhn,  published  in  the  Kirchenmusikalischei 
Jahrbuch  (Kegensburg),  1892. 

79 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

or  loyalty  of  the  flock.  He  therefore  who  would  know 
the  spirit  of  Catholicism  must  give  a  large  portion  of 
his  study  to  its  art.  From  the  central  genius  of  this 
institution,  displayed  not  merely  in  its  doctrines  and 
traditions,  but  also  in  its  sublime  faith  in  its  own  divine 
ordination  and  guidance,  and  in  its  ideals  of  holiness, 
have  issued  its  liturgy,  its  ceremonial,  and  the  infinitely 
varied  manifestations  of  its  symbolic,  historic,  and  devo- 
tional art.  The  Catholic  Church  has  aimed  to  rear  on 
earth  a  visible  type  of  the  spiritual  kingdom  of  God, 
and  to  build  for  her  disciples  a  home,  suggestive  in  its 
splendor  of  the  glory  prepared  for  those  who  keep  the 
faith. 

All  Catholic  art,  in  so  far  as  it  may  in  the  strict  use 
of  language  be  called  church  art,  separates  itself  from 
the  larger  and  more  indefinite  category  of  religious  art, 
and  derives  its  character  not  from  the  personal  deter- 
mination of  individual  artists,  but  from  conceptions  and 
models  that  have  become  traditional  and  canonical. 
These  traditional  laws  and  forms  have  developed  organ- 
ically out  of  the  needs  of  the  Catholic  worship ;  they 
derive  their  sanction  and  to  a  large  extent  their  style 
from  the  doctrine  and  also  from  the  ceremonial.  The 
centre  of  the  whole  churchly  life  is  the  altar,  with  the 
great  offices  of  worship  there  performed.  Architecture, 
painting,  decoration,  music,  —  all  are  comprehended  in 
a  unity  of  impression  through  the  liturgy  which  they 
serve.  Ecclesiastical  art  has  evolved  from  within  the 
Church  itself,  and  has  drawn  its  vitality  from  those 
ideas  which  have  found  their  permanent  and  most  terse 
embodiment  in  the  liturgy.     Upon  the  liturgy  and  the 

80 


THE  LITURGY  OF  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

ceremonial  functions  attending  it  must  be  based  all 
study  of  the  system  of  artistic  expression  officially  sanc- 
tioned by  the  Catholic  Church. 

The  Catholic  liturgy,  or  text  of  the  Mass,  is  not  the 
work  of  any  individual  or  conference.  It  is  a  growth, 
an  evolution.  Set  forms  of  prayer  began  to  come  into 
use  as  soon  as  the  first  Christian  congregations  were 
founded  by  the  apostles.  The  dogma  of  the  eucharist 
was  the  chief  factor  in  giving  the  liturgy  its  final  shape. 
By  a  logical  process  of  selection  and  integration,  certain 
prayers,  Scripture  lessons,  hymns,  and  responses  were 
woven  together,  until  the  whole  became  shaped  into 
what  may  be  called  a  religious  poem,  in  which  was  ex- 
pressed the  conceived  relation  of  Christ  to  the  Church, 
and  the  emotional  attitude  of  the  Church  in  view  of  his 
perpetual  presence  as  both  paschal  victim  and  high 
priest.  This  great  prayer  of  the  Catholic  Church  is 
mainly  composed  of  contributions  made  by  the  Eastern 
Church  during  the  first  four  centuries.  Its  essential 
features  were  adopted  and  transferred  to  Latin  by  the 
Church  of  Rome,  and  after  a  process  of  sifting  and 
rearranging,  with  some  additions,  its  form  was  com- 
pleted by  the  end  of  the  sixth  century  essentially  as  it 
stands  to-day.  The  liturgy  is,  therefore,  the  voice  of 
the  Church,  weighted  with  her  tradition,  resounding 
with  the  commanding  tone  of  her  apostolic  authority, 
eloquent  with  the  longing  and  the  assurance  of  innu- 
merable martyrs  and  confessors,  the  mystic  testimony 
to  the  commission  which  the  Church  believes  to  have 
been  laid  upon  her  by  the  Holy  Spirit.  It  is  not  sur- 
prising, therefore,  that  devout  Catholics  have  come  to 
6  81 


MUSIC  IN  THE   WESTERN  CHURCH 

consider  this  liturgy  as  divinely  inspired,  raised  above 
all  mere  human  speech,  the  language  of  saints  and 
angels,  a  truly  celestial  poem  ;  and  that  Catholic  writers 
have  well-nigh  exhausted  the  vocabulary  of  enthusiasm 
in  expounding  its  spiritual  significance. 

The  insistence  upon  the  use  of  one  unvarying  lan- 
guage in  the  Mass  and  all  the  other  offices  of  the  Catholic 
Church  is  necessarily  involved  in  the  very  conception 
of  catholicity  and  immutability.  A  universal  Church 
must  have  a  universal  form  of  speech ;  national  lan- 
guages imply  national  churches;  the  adoption  of  the 
vernacular  would  be  the  first  step  toward  disintegration. 
The  Catholic,  into  whatever  strange  land  he  may  wan- 
der, is  ever}nvhere  at  home  the  moment  he  enters  a 
sanctuary  of  his  faith,  for  he  hears  the  same  worship,  in 
the  same  tongue,  accompanied  with  the  same  ceremo- 
nies, that  has  been  familiar  to  him  from  childhood. 
This  universal  language  must  inevitably  be  the  Latin. 
Unlike  all  living  languages  it  is  never  subject  to 
change,  and  hence  there  is  no  danger  that  any  misun- 
derstanding of  refined  points  of  doctrine  or  observance 
will  creep  in  through  alteration  in  the  connotation 
of  words.  Latin  is  the  original  language  of  the  Cath- 
olic Church,  the  language  of  scholarship  and  diplomacy 
in  the  period  of  ecclesiastical  formation,  the  tongue 
to  which  were  committed  the  ritual,  articles  of  faith, 
legal  enactments,  the  writings  of  the  fathers  of  the 
Church,  ancient  concilia?  decrees,  etc.  The  only  excep- 
tions to  the  rule  which  prescribes  Latin  as  the  liturgical 
speech  are  to  be  found  among  certain  Oriental  congre- 
gations, where,  for  local  reasons,  other  languages  are 

82 


THE  LITURGY  OF  THE   CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

permitted,  vt2.,  Greek,  Syriac,  Chaldaic,  Slavonic,  Wal- 
lachian,  Armenian,  Coptic,  and  Ethiopic.  In  each  of 
these  instances,  however,  the  liturgic  speech  is  not  the 
vernacular,  but  the  ancient  form  which  has  passed  out 
of  use  in  other  relations.^ 

The  Mass  is  the  most  solemn  rite  among  the  offices 
of  the  Catholic  Church,  and  embodies  the  fundamental 
doctrine  upon  which  the  Catholic  system  of  worship 
mainly  rests.  It  is  the  chief  sacrament,  the  permanent 
channel  of  grace  ever  kept  open  between  God  and  his 
Church.  It  is  an  elaborate  development  of  the  last 
supper  of  Christ  with  his  disciples,  and  is  the  fulfilment 
of  the  perpetual  injunction  laid  by  the  Master  upon  his 
followers.  Developed  under  the  control  of  the  idea  of 
sacrifice,  which  was  drawn  from  the  central  conception 
of  the  old  Jewish  dispensation  and  imbedded  in  the 
tradition  of  the  Church  at  a  very  early  period,  the  office 
of  the  Mass  became  not  a  mere  memorial  of  the  atone- 
ment upon  Calvary,  but  a  perpetual  renewal  of  it  upon 
the  altar  through  the  power  committed  to  the  priesthood 
by  the  Holy  Spirit.  To  the  Protestant,  Christ  was 
offered  once  for  all  upon  the  cross,  and  the  believer  par- 
takes through  repentance  and  faith  in  the  benefits  con- 
ferred by  that  transcendent  act;  but  to  the  Catholic 
this  sacrifice  is  repeated  whenever  the  eucharistic  ele- 
ments of  bread  and  wine  are  presented  at  the  altar 
with  certain  prayers  and  formuLis.  The  renewal  of  the 
atoning  process  is  effected  through  the  recurring 
miracle  of  transubstantiation,  by  which  the  bread  and 
wine  are  transmuted  into  the  very  body  and  blood  of 

1  O'Brien,  History  of  the  Mats. 
83 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

Christ.  It  is  in  this  way  that  the  Catholic  Church  liter- 
ally interprets  the  words  of  Jesus :  "  This  is  my  body ; 
this  is  my  blood ;  whoso  eateth  my  flesh  and  drinketh  my 
blood  hath  eternal  life."  When  the  miraculous  transfor- 
mation has  taken  place  at  the  repetition  by  the  priest  of 
Christ's  words  of  institution,  the  consecrated  host  and 
chalice  are  offered  to  God  by  the  priest  in  the  name  and 
for  the  sake  of  the  believers,  both  present  and  absent, 
for  whom  prayer  is  made  and  who  share  through  faith  in 
the  benefits  of  this  sacrificial  act.  "  The  sacrifice  of  the 
Mass,"  says  Cardinal  Gibbons,  "  is  identical  with  that  of 
the  cross,  both  having  the  same  victim  and  high  priest 
—  Jesus  Christ.  The  only  difference  consists  in  the 
manner  of  the  oblation.  Christ  was  offered  upon  the 
cross  in  a  bloody  manner ;  in  the  Mass  he  is  offered  up 
in  an  unbloody  manner.  On  the  cross  he  purchased  our 
ransom,  and  in  the  eucharistic  sacrifice  the  price  of  that 
ransom  is  applied  to  our  souls."  ^  This  conception 
is  the  keystone  of  the  whole  structure  of  Catholic 
faith,  the  super-essential  dogma,  repeated  from  century 
to  century  in  declarations  of  prelates,  theologians,  and 
synods,  reasserted  once  for  all  in  terms  of  binding  defi- 
nition by  the  Council  of  Trent.  All,  therefore,  who 
assist  in  this  mystic  ceremony,  either  as  celebrants  and 
ministers  or  as  indirect  participants  through  faith,  share 
in  its  supernatural  efficacy.  It  is  to  them  a  sacrifice  of 
praise,  of  supplication,  and  of  propitiation. 

The  whole  elaborate  ceremony  of  the  Mass,  which  is 
such  an  enigma  to  the  uninstructed,  is  nowhere  vain  or 
repetitious.     Every  word  has  its  fitting  relation  to  the 

1  GibboDS,  The  Faith  of  our  Fathers. 
84 


THE  LITURGY  OF  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

whole  ;  every  gesture  and  genuflection,  every  change  of 
vestments,  has  its  symbolic  significance.  All  the  ele- 
ments of  the  rite  are  merged  into  a  unity  under  the 
sway  of  this  central  act  of  consecration  and  oblation. 
All  the  lessons,  prayers,  responses,  and  hymns  are  de- 
signed to  lead  up  to  it,  to  prepare  the  officers  and  people 
to  share  in  it,  and  to  impress  upon  them  its  meaning 
and  effect.  The  architectural,  sculptural,  and  decorative 
beauty  of  altar,  chancel,  and  apse  finds  its  justification 
as  a  worthy  setting  for  the  august  ceremony,  and  as  a 
fitting  shrine  to  harbor  the  very  presence  of  the  Lord. 
The  display  of  lights  and  vestments,  the  spicy  clouds  of 
incense,  the  solemnity  of  priestly  chant,  and  the  pomp  of 
choral  music,  are  contrived  solely  to  enhance  the  impres- 
sion of  the  rite,  and  to  compel  the  mind  into  a  becoming 
mood  of  adoration. 

There  are  several  kinds  of  Masses,  differing  in  certain 
details,  or  in  manner  of  performance,  or  in  respect  to  the 
occasions  to  which  they  are  appropriated,  such  as  the 
High  Mass,  Solemn  High  Mass,  Low  Mass,  Requiem 
Mass  or  Mass  for  the  Dead,  ^Nlass  of  the  Presanctified, 
Nuptial  Mass,  Votive  Mass,  etc.  The  widest  departure 
from  the  ordinary  ]Mass  form  is  in  the  Requiem  Mass, 
where  the  Gloria  and  Credo  are  omitted,  and  their 
places  supplied  by  the  medieval  judgment  hymn.  Dies 
Irae,  together  with  certain  special  prayers  for  departed 
souls.  In  respect  to  the  customary  service  on  Sundays, 
fesfcil,  and  ferial  days  there  is  no  difference  in  the  words 
of  the  High  Mass,  Solemn  High  Mass,  and  Low  Mass, 
but  only  in  the  manner  of  performance  and  the  degree 
of  embellishment.     The  Low  Mass  is  said  in  a  low  tone 

85 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

of  voice  and  in  the  manner  of  ordinary  speech,  the 
usual  marks  of  solemnity  being  dispensed  with  ;  there 
is  no  chanting  and  no  choir  music.  The  High  Mass  is 
given  in  musical  tones  throughout  by  celebrant  and 
choir.  The  Solemn  High  Mass  is  performed  with  still 
greater  ritualistic  display,  and  with  deacon,  sub-deacon, 
and  a  full  corps  of  inferior  ministers. 

The  prayers,  portions  of  Scripture,  hymns,  and 
responses  which  compose  the  Catholic  liturgy  consist 
both  of  parts  that  are  unalterably  the  same  and  of  parts 
that  change  each  day  of  the  year.  Those  portions  that 
are  invariable  constitute  what  is  known  as  the  Ordinary 
of  the  Mass.  The  changeable  or  "  proper  "  parts  include 
the  Introits,  Collects,  Epistles  and  Lessons,  Graduals, 
Tracts,  Gospels,  Offertories,  Secrets,  Prefaces,  Com- 
munions, and  Post-Communions.  Every  day  of  the 
year  has  its  special  and  distinctive  form,  according  as  it 
commemorates  some  event  in  the  life  of  our  Lord  or  is 
devoted  to  the  memory  of  some  saint,  martyr,  or  con- 
fessor.i  Mass  may  be  celebrated  on  any  day  of  the  year 
except  Good  Friday,  the  great  mourning  day  of  the 
Church. 


1  The  musical  composition  commonly  called  a  Mass  —  such,  for  instance 
as  the  Imperial  Mass  of  Haydn,  the  Mass  in  C  by  Beethoven,  the  St. 
Cecilia  Mass  by  Gounod  —  is  a  musical  setting  of  those  portions  of  the 
office  of  the  Mass  that  are  invariable  and  that  are  sung  by  a  choir.  These 
portions  are  the  Kyrie,  Gloria,  Credo,  Sanctus  and  Benedictus,  and  Agnus 
Dei.  The  musical  composition  called  Hecjuiem,  or  Mass  for  the  Dead,  con- 
sists of  the  Introit  —  Reciuiem  aeternam  and  Te  decet  hymnus,  Kyrie 
eleison.  Dies  Ira;,  Offertory  (Domine  Jesu  Chri.ste),  Communion — Lux 
aiterna,  and  sometimes  with  the  addition  of  Libera  me  Domine.  These 
choral  Masses  must  always  be  distinguished  from  the  larger  office  of  the 
Mass  of  which  they  form  a  part. 

86 


THE  LITURGY  OF  THE   CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

The  outline  of  the  Mass  ceremony  that  follows 
relates  to  the  High  Mass,  which  may  be  taken  as  the 
type  of  the  Mass  in  general.  It  must  be  borne  in 
mind  that  the  entire  office  is  chanted  or  sung. 

After  the  entrance  of  the  officiating  priest  and  his 
attendants  the  celebrant  pronounces  the  words  :  "  In  the 
name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  Amen ;  "  and  then  recites  the  42d  psalm  (43d  in 
the  Protestant  version).  Next  follows  the  confession 
of  sin  and  prayer  for  pardon.  After  a  few  brief  prayers 
and  responses  the  Introit  —  a  short  Scripture  selection, 
usually  from  a  psalm  —  is  chanted.  Then  the  choir 
sings  the  Kyrie  eleison,  Christe  eleison.  The  first  of 
these  ejaculations  was  used  in  the  Eastern  Church  in 
the  earliest  ages  as  a  response  by  the  people.  It  was 
adopted  into  the  liturgies  of  the  Western  Church  at  a 
very  early  period,  and  is  one  of  the  two  instances  of  the 
survival  in  the  Latin  office  of  phrases  of  the  original 
Greek  liturgies.  The  Christe  eleison  was  added  a  little 
later. 

The  Kyrie  is  immediately  followed  by  the  singing 
by  the  choir  of  the  Gloria  in  excelsis  Deo.  This 
hymn,  also  called  the  greater  doxology,  is  of  Greek 
origin,  and  is  the  angelic  song  given  in  chapter  ii.  of 
Luke's  Gospel,  with  additions  which  were  made  not 
later  than  the  fourth  century.  It  was  adopted  into  the 
Roman  liturgy  at  least  as  early  as  the  latter  part  of  the 
sixth  century,  since  it  appears,  connected  with  certain 
restrictions,  in  the  sacramentary  of  Pope  Gregory  the 
Great, 

Next  are   recited    the   Collects  —  short  prayers   ap* 

87 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

propriate  to  the  day,  imploring  God's  blessing.  Then 
comes  the  reading  of  the  Epistle,  a  psalm  verse  called 
the  Gradual,  the  Alleluia,  or,  when  that  is  omitted,  the 
Tractus  (which  is  also  usually  a  psalm  verse),  and  at 
certain  festivals  a  hymn  called  Sequence.  Next  is  re- 
cited the  Gospel  appointed  for  the  day.  If  a  sermon  is 
preached  its  place  is  next  after  the  Gospel. 

The  confession  of  faith  —  Credo  —  is  then  sung  by 
the  choir.  This  symbol  is  based  on  the  creed  adopted 
by  the  council  of  Nicaea  in  325  and  modified  by  the 
council  of  Constantinople  in  381,  but  it  is  not  strictly 
identical  with  either  the  Nicene  or  the  Constantinople 
creed.  The  most  important  difference  between  the 
Constantinople  creed  and  the  present  Roman  consists 
in  the  addition  in  the  Roman  creed  of  the  words  "  and 
from  the  Son  "  (filioque)  in  the  declaration  concerning 
the  procession  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  present  creed 
has  been  in  use  in  Spain  since  589,  and  according  to 
what  seems  good  authority  was  adopted  into  the  Roman 
liturgy  in  1014. 

After  a  sentence  usually  taken  from  a  psalm  and 
called  the  Offertory,  the  most  solemn  portion  of  the 
Mass  begins  with  the  Oblation  of  the  Host,  the  cere- 
monial preparation  of  the  elements  of  bread  and  wine, 
with  prayers,  incensings,  and  ablutions. 

All  being  now  ready  for  the  consummation  of  the 
sacrificial  act,  the  ascription  of  thanksgiving  and  praise 
called  the  Preface  is  offered,  which  varies  with  the 
season,  but  closes  with  the  Sanctus  and  Benedictus, 
sung  by  the  choir. 

The  Sanctus,  also  called  Trisagion  or  Thrice  Holy, 

88 


THE  LITURGY  OF  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

is  the  cherubic  hymn  heard  by  Isaiah  in  vision,  as  de- 
scribed in  Is.  vi.  3.  The  Benedictus  is  the  shout  of 
acclamation  by  the  concourse  who  met  Christ  on  his 
entry  into  Jerusalem.  There  is  a  poetic  significance 
in  the  union  of  these  two  passages.  The  blessed  one, 
who  Cometh  in  the  name  of  the  Lord,  is  the  Lord  him- 
self, the  God  of  Sabaoth,  of  whose  glory  heaven  and 
earth  are  full. 

The  Canon  of  the  Mass  now  opens  with  prayers  that 
the  holy  sacrifice  may  be  accepted  of  God,  and  may  re- 
dound to  the  benefit  of  those  present.  The  act  of  con- 
secration is  performed  by  pronouncing  Christ's  words 
of  institution,  and  the  sacred  host  and  chalice,  now 
become  objects  of  the  most  rapt  and  absorbed  devotion, 
are  elevated  before  the  kneeling  worshipers,  and  com- 
mitted to  the  acceptance  of  God  with  the  most  impres- 
sive vows  and  invocations.^ 

^  As  an  illustration  of  the  nobility  of  thought  and  beauty  of  diction 
that  are  found  in  the  Catholic  offices,  the  prayer  immediately  following 
the  consecration  of  the  chalice  may  be  quoted  : 

"  Wherefore,  O  Lord,  we  thy  servants,  as  also  thy  holy  people,  call- 
ing to  mind  the  blessed  passion  of  the  same  Christ  thy  Son  our  Lord,  his 
resurrection  from  the  dead,  and  admirable  ascension  into  heaven,  offer 
nnto  thy  most  excellent  Majesty  of  the  gifts  bestowed  upon  us  a  pure 
Host,  a  holy  Host,  an  unspotted  Host,  the  holy  bread  of  eternal  life,  and 
chalice  of  everlasting  salvation. 

"  Upon  which  vouchsafe  to  look,  with  a  propitious  and  serene  counte- 
nance, and  to  accept  them,  as  thou  wert  graciously  pleased  to  accept  the 
gifts  of  thy  just  servant  Abel,  and  the  sacrifice  of  our  patriarch  Abraham, 
and  that  which  thy  high  priest  Melchisedech  offered  to  thee,  a  holy  sacri- 
fice and  unspotted  victim. 

"  We  most  humbly  beseech  thee,  Almighty  God,  command  these  things 
to  be  carried  by  the  li.inds  of  thy  holy  angels  to  thy  altar  on  high,  in  the 
sight  of  thy  divine  Majesty,  that  as  many  as  shall  partake  of  the  most 
sacred  body  and  blood  of  thy  Son  at  this  altar,  may  be  filled  with  every 
heavenly  grace  and  blessing." 

89 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

In  the  midst  of  the  series  of  prayers  following  the 
consecration  the  choir  sings  the  Agnus  Dei,  a  short 
hymn  which  was  introduced  into  the  Roman  liturgy 
at  a  very  early  date.  The  priest  then  communicates, 
and  those  of  the  congregation  who  have  been  prepared 
for  the  exalted  privilege  by  confession  and  absolution 
kneel  at  the  sanctuary  rail  and  receive  from  the  cele- 
brant's hands  the  consecrated  wafer.  The  Post-Commu- 
nion, which  is  a  brief  prayer  for  protection  and  grace, 
the  dismissal  ^  and  benediction,  and  the  reading  of  the 
first  fourteen  verses  of  the  Gospel  according  to  St. 
John  close  the  ceremony. 

Interspersed  with  the  prayers,  lessons,  responses, 
hymns,  etc.,  which  constitute  the  liturgy  are  a  great 
number  of  crossings,  obeisances,  incensings,  changing 
of  vestments,  and  other  liturgic  actions,  all  an  enigma 
to  the  uninitiated,  yet  not  arbitrary  or  meaningless,  for 
each  has  a  symbolic  significance,  designed  not  merely 
to  impress  the  congregation,  but  still  more  to  enforce 
upon  the  ministers  themselves  a  sense  of  the  magnitude 
of  the  work  in  which  they  are  engaged.  The  complex- 
ity of  the  ceremonial,  the  rapidity  of  utterance  and 
the  frequent  inaudibility  of  the  words  of  the  priest, 
together  with  the  fact  that  the  text  is  in  a  dead  lan- 
guage, are  not  inconsistent  with  the  purpose  for  which 
the  Mass  is  conceived.  For  it  is  not  considered  as 
proceeding  from  the  people,  but  it  is  an  ordinance  per- 
formed for  them   and  in   their  name   by  a  priesthood, 

1  It  is  worthy  of  note,  as  a  singular  instance  of  the  exaltation  of  a 
comparatively  unimportant  word,  that  the  word  Mass,  Lat.  Missa,  is  taken 
from  the  ancient  formula  of  dismissal,  Ite,  missa  est. 

90 


THE  LITURGY  OF  THE   CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

whose  function  is  that  of  representing  the  Church  in 
its  mediatorial  capacity.  The  Mass  is  not  simply  a 
prayer,  but  also  a  semi-dramatic  action,  —  an  action 
which  possesses  in  itself  an  efficacy  ex  opere  operato. 
This  idea  renders  it  unnecessary  that  the  worship- 
ers should  follow  the  office  in  detail;  it  is  enough 
that  they  cooperate  with  the  celebrant  in  faith  and 
pious  sympathy.  High  authorities  declare  that  the 
most  profitable  reception  of  the  rite  consists  in  simply 
watching  the  action  of  the  officiating  priest  at  the  altar, 
and  yielding  the  spirit  unreservedly  to  the  holy  emo- 
tions which  are  excited  by  a  complete  self-abandonment 
to  the  contemplation  of  the  adorable  mystery.  The 
sacramental  theory  of  the  Mass  as  a  vehicle  by  which 
grace  is  communicated  from  above  to  the  believing  re- 
cipient, also  leaves  him  free  to  carry  on  private  devo- 
tion during  the  progress  of  the  ceremony.  When  the 
worshipers  are  seen  kneeling  in  the  pews  or  before  an 
altar  at  the  side  wall,  fingering  rosaries  or  with  eyes 
intent  upon  prayer-books,  it  is  not  the  words  of  the 
Mass  that  they  are  repeating.  The  Mass  is  the  prayer 
of  the  Church  at  large,  but  it  does  not  emanate  from 
the  congregation.  The  theory  of  the  Mass  does  not 
even  require  the  presence  of  the  laity,  and  as  a  matter 
of  practice  private  and  solitary  Masses,  although  rare, 
are  in  no  way  contrary  to  the  discipline  of  the  Catholic 
Church. 


91 


CHAPTER   IV 

THE   RITUAL  CHANT   OF   THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

In  reading  the  words  of  the  Catholic  liturgy  from 
the  Missal  we  must  remember  that  they  were  written 
to  be  sung,  and  in  a  certain  limited  degree  acted,  and 
that  we  cannot  receive  their  real  force  except  when 
musically  rendered  and  in  connection  with  the  cere- 
monies appropriated  to  them.  For  the  Catholic  liturgy 
is  in  conception  and  history  a  musical  liturgy;  word 
and  tone  are  inseparably  bound  together.  The  imme- 
diate action  of  music  upon  the  emotion  supplements 
and  reinforces  the  action  of  the  text  and  the  dogmatic 
teaching  upon  the  understanding,  and  the  ceremony  at 
the  altar  makes  the  impression  still  more  direct  by 
means  of  visible  representation.  All  the  faculties  are 
therefore  held  in  the  grasp  of  this  composite  agency 
of  language,  music,  and  bodily  motion ;  neither  is  at 
any  point  independent  of  the  others,  for  they  are  all 
alike  constituent  parts  of  the  poetic  whole,  in  which 
action  becomes  prayer  and  prayer  becomes  action. 

The  music  of  the  Catholic  Church  as  it  exists  to-day 
is  the  result  of  a  long  process  of  evolution.  Although 
this  process  has  been  continuous,  it  has  three  times 
culminated   in   special   forms,  all   of   them   coincident 

92 


THE   CATHOLIC  RITUAL   CHANT 

with  three  comprehensive  ideas  of  musical  expression 
which  have  succeeded  each  other  chronologically,  and 
which  divide  the  whole  history  of  modern  music  into 
clearly  marked  epochs.  These  epochs  are  those  (1)  of 
the  unison  chant,  (2)  of  unaccompanied  chorus  music, 
and  (3)  of  mixed  solo  and  chorus  with  instrumental 
accompaniment. 

(1)  The  period  in  which  the  unison  chant  was  the 
only  form  of  church  music  extends  from  the  found- 
ing of  the  congregation  of  Rome  to  about  the  year 
1100,  and  coincides  with  the  centuries  of  missionary 
labor  among  the  Northern  and  Western  nations,  when 
the  Roman  liturgy  was  triumphantly  asserting  its  au- 
thority over  the  various  local  uses. 

(2)  The  period  of  the  unaccompanied  contrapuntal 
chorus,  based  on  the  mediaeval  key  and  melodic  systems, 
covers  the  era  of  the  European  sovereignty  of  the 
Catholic  Church,  including  also  the  period  of  the 
Counter-Reformation  of  the  sixteenth  century.  This 
phase  of  art,  culminating  in  the  works  of  Palestrina  in 
Rome,  Orlandus  Lassus  in  Munich,  and  the  Gabrielis 
in  Venice,  suffered  no  decline,  and  gave  way  at  last 
to  a  style  in  sharp  contrast  with  it  only  when  it  had 
gained  an  impregnable  historic  position. 

(3)  The  style  now  dominant  in  the  choir  music  of 
the  Catholic  Church,  viz.^  mixed  solo  and  chorus  music 
with  free  instrumental  accompaniment,  based  on  the 
modem  transposing  scales,  arose  in  the  seventeenth 
century  as  an  outcome  of  the  Renaissance  seculariza- 
tion of  art.  It  was  tiiken  up  by  the  Catholic,  Lutheran, 
And   Anglican   Churches,   and   was    moulded    into   ita 

93 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

present  types  under  the  influence  of  new  demands  upon 
musical  expression  which  had  already  brought  forth  the 
dramatic  and  concert  styles. 

The  unison  chant,  although  confined  in  the  vast 
majority  of  congregations  to  the  portions  of  the  liturgy 
that  are  sung  by  the  priest,  is  still  the  one  officially 
recognized  form  of  liturgic  music.  Although  in  the 
historic  development  of  musical  art  representatives  of 
the  later  phases  of  music  have  been  admitted  into  the 
Church,  they  exist  there  only,  we  might  say,  by  suf- 
ferance, —  the  chant  still  remains  the  legal  basis  of  the 
whole  scheme  of  worship  music.  The  chant  melodies 
are  no  mere  musical  accompaniment ;  they  are  the  very 
life  breath  of  the  words.  The  text  is  so  exalted  in 
diction  and  import,  partaking  of  the  sanctity  of  the 
sacrificial  function  to  which  it  ministers,  that  it  must 
be  uttered  in  tones  especially  consecrated  to  it.  So 
intimate  is  this  reciprocal  relation  of  tone  and  language 
that  in  process  of  time  these  two  elements  have  become 
amalgamated  into  a  union  so  complete  that  no  disso- 
lution is  possible  even  in  thought.  There  is  no  ques- 
tion that  the  chant  melodies  as  they  exist  to-day  are 
only  modifications,  in  most  cases  but  slight  modifi- 
cations, of  those  that  were  originally  associated  with 
the  several  portions  of  the  liturgy.  At  the  moment 
when  any  form  of  words  was  given  a  place  in  the 
Missal  or  Breviarj--,  its  proper  melody  was  then  and 
there  wedded  to  it.  This  fact  makes  the  Catholic 
liturgic  chant  a  distinctive  church  song  in  a  special 
and  peculiar  sense.  It  is  not,  like  most  other  church 
music,  the  artistic  creation  of  individuals,  enriching  the 

94 


THE   CATHOLIQ  RITUAL   CHANT 

service  with  contributions  from  without,  and  imparting 
to  them  a  quality  drawn  from  the  composer's  personal 
feeling  and  artistic  methods.  It  is  rather  a  sort  of 
religious  folk-song,  proceeding  from  the  inner  shrine 
of  religion.  It  is  abstract,  impersonal;  its  style  is 
strictly  ecclesiastical,  both  in  its  inherent  solemnity 
and  its  ancient  association,  and  it  bears,  like  the 
ritual  itself,  the  sanction  of  unimpeachable  authority. 
The  reverence  paid  by  the  Church  to  the  liturgic  chant 
as  a  peculiarly  sacred  form  of  utterance  is  plainly 
indicated  by  the  fact  that  while  there  is  no  restraint 
upon  the  license  of  choice  on  the  part  of  the  choir,  no 
other  form  of  song  has  ever  been  heard,  or  can  ever 
be  permitted  to  be  heard,  from  the  priest  in  the  per- 
formance of  his  ministrations  at  the  altar. 

If  we  enter  a  Catholic  church  during  High  Mass 
or  Vespers  we  notice  that  the  words  of  the  priest 
are  delivered  in  musical  tones.  This  song  at  once 
strikes  us  as  different  in  many  respects  from  any  other 
form  of  music  with  which  we  are  acquainted.  At 
first  it  seems  monotonous,  strange,  almost  barbaric, 
but  when  we  have  become  accustomed  to  it  the  effect 
is  very  solemn  and  impressive.  Many  who  are  not 
instructed  in  the  matter  imagine  that  the  priest  extem- 
porizes these  cadences,  but  nothing  could  be  further 
from  the  truth.  Certain  portions  of  this  chant  are  very 
plain,  long  series  of  words  being  recited  on  a  single 
note,  introduced  and  ended  with  very  simple  melodic 
inflections ;  other  portions  are  florid,  of  wider  compass 
than  the  simple  chant,  often  with  many  notes  to  a  syl- 
lable. Sometimes  the  priest  sings  alone,  without  re- 
95 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN   CHURCH 

sponse  or  accompaniment;  sometimes  his  utterances 
are  answered  by  a  choir  of  boys  in  the  chancel  or  a 
mixed  choir  in  the  gallery ;  in  certain  portions  of  the 
service  the  organ  supports  the  chant  with  harmonies 
which  seem  to  be  based  on  a  different  principle  of  key 
and  scale  from  that  which  ordinarily  obtains  in  modern 
chord  progression.  In  its  freedom  of  rhythm  it  bears 
some  resemblance  to  dramatic  recitative,  yet  it  is  far 
less  dramatic  or  characteristic  in  color  and  expression, 
and  at  the  same  time  both  more  severe  and  more  flex- 
ible. To  one  who  understands  the  whole  conception 
and  spirit  of  the  Catholic  worship  there  is  a  singular 
appropriateness  in  the  employment  of  this  manner  of 
utterance,  and  when  properly  rendered  it  blends  most 
efficiently  with  the  architectural  splendors  of  altar  and 
sanctuary,  with  incense,  lights,  vestments,  ceremonial 
action,  and  all  the  embellishments  that  lend  distinction 
and  solemnity  to  the  Catholic  ritual.  This  is  the  cele- 
brated liturgic  chant,  also  called  Gregorian  chant,  Plain 
Song,  or  Choral,  and  is  the  special  and  peculiar  form 
of  song  in  which  the  Catholic  Church  has  clothed  its 
liturgy  for  certainly  fifteen  hundred  years. 

This  peculiar  and  solemn  form  of  song  is  the  musi- 
cal speech  in  which  the  entire  ritual  of  the  Catholic 
Church  was  originally  rendered,  and  to  which  a  large 
portion  of  the  ritual  is  confined  at  the  present  day.  It 
is  always  sung  in  unison,  with  or  without  instrumental 
accompaniment.  It  is  unmetrical  though  not  unrhyth- 
mical ;  it  follows  the  phrasing,  the  emphasis,  and  the 
natural  inflections  of  the  voice  in  reciting  the  text,  at 
the   same  time  that  it  idealizes  them.     It  is  a  sort  of 

96 


THE   CATHOLIC  RITUAL   CHANT 

heightened  form  of  speech,  a  musical  declamation,  hav- 
ing for  its  object  the  intensifying  of  the  emotional 
powers  of  ordinary  spoken  language.  It  stands  to  true 
song  or  tune  in  much  the  same  relation  as  prose  to 
verse,  less  impassioned,  more  reflective,  yet  capable  of 
moving  the  heart  like  eloquence. 

The  chant  appears  to  be  the  natural  and  fundamental 
form  of  music  employed  in  all  liturgical  systems  the 
world  over,  ancient  and  modern.  The  sacrificial  song 
of  the  Egyptians,  the  Hebrews,  and  the  Greeks  was 
a  chant,  and  this  is  the  form  of  music  adopted  by  the 
Eastern  Church,  the  Anglican,  and  every  system  in 
which  worship  is  offered  in  common  and  prescribed 
forms.  The  chant  form  is  chosen  because  it  does  not 
make  an  independent  artistic  impression,  but  can  be 
held  in  strict  subordination  to  the  sacred  words ;  its 
sole  function  is  to  carry  the  text  over  with  greater  force 
upon  the  attention  and  the  emotions.  It  is  in  this 
relationship  of  text  and  tone  that  the  chant  differs  from 
true  melody.  The  latter  obeys  musical  laws  of  struct- 
ure and  rhythm ;  the  music  is  paramount  and  the  text 
accessory,  and  in  order  that  the  musical  flow  may  not 
be  hampered,  the  words  are  often  extended  or  repeated, 
and  may  be  compared  to  a  flexible  framework  on  wliich 
the  tonal  decoration  is  displayed.  In  the  chant,  on  the 
other  hand,  this  relation  of  text  and  tone  is  reversed ; 
there  is  no  repetition  of  words,  the  laws  of  structure 
and  rhythm  are  rhetorical  laws,  and  the  music  never 
asserts  itself  to  the  concealment  or  subjugation  of  the 
meaning  of  the  text.  The  "  jubilations  "  or  "  melismas," 
which  are  frequent  in  the  choral  portions  of  the  Plain 
7  97 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

Song  system,  particularly  in  the  richer  melodies  of  the 
Mass,  would  seem  at  first  thought  to  contradict  this 
principle ;  in  these  florid  melodic  phrases  the  singer 
would  appear  to  abandon  himself  to  a  sort  of  inspired 
rapture,  giving  vent  to  the  emotions  aroused  in  him  by 
the  sacred  words.  Here  musical  utterance  seems  for 
the  moment  to  be  set  free  from  dependence  upon  word 
and  symbol  and  to  assert  its  own  special  prerogatives 
of  expression,  adopting  the  conception  that  underlies 
modern  figurate  music.  These  occasional  ebullitions  of 
feeling  permitted  in  the  chant  are,  however,  only  mo- 
mentary; they  relieve  what  would  otherwise  be  an 
unvaried  austerity  not  contemplated  in  the  spirit  of 
Catholic  art ;  they  do  not  violate  the  general  principle 
of  universality  and  objectiveness  as  opposed  to  indi- 
vidual subjective  expression,  —  subordination  to  word 
and  rite  rather  than  purely  musical  self-assertion, — 
which  is  the  theoretic  basis  of  the  liturgic  chant  system. 
Chant  is  speech-song,  probably  the  earliest  form  of 
vocal  music ;  it  proceeds  from  the  modulations  of  im- 
passioned speech ;  it  results  from  the  need  of  regulating 
and  perpetuating  these  modulations  when  certain  exi- 
gencies require  a  common  and  impressive  form  of  utter- 
ance, as  in  religious  rites,  public  rejoicing  or  mourning, 
etc.  The  necessity  of  filling  large  spaces  almost  inevi- 
tably involves  the  use  of  balanced  cadences.  Poetic 
recitation  among  ancient  and  primitive  peoples  is  never 
recited  in  the  ordinar}'^  level  pitch  of  voice  in  speech, 
but  always  in  musical  inflections,  controlled  by  some 
principle  of  order.  Under  the  authority  of  a  permanent 
corporate  institution  these  inflections  are  reduced  to  a 

98 


THE   CATHOLIC  RITUAL   CHANT 

system,  and  are  imposed  upon  all  whose  office  it  is  to 
administer  the  public  ceremonies  of  worship.  This  is 
the  origin  of  the  liturgic  chant  of  ancient  peoples,  and 
also,  by  historic  continuation,  of  the  Gregorian  melody. 
The  Catholic  chant  is  a  projection  into  modern  art  of 
the  altar  song  of  Greece,  Judsea,  and  Egypt,  and 
through  these  nations  reaches  back  to  that  epoch  of 
unknown  remoteness  when  mankind  first  began  to  con- 
ceive of  invisible  powers  to  be  invoked  or  appeased. 
A  large  measure  of  the  impressiveness  of  the  liturgic 
chant,  therefore,  is  due  to  its  historic  religious  associ- 
ations. It  forms  a  connecting  link  between  ancient 
religion  and  the  Christian,  and  perpetuates  to  our  own 
day  an  ideal  of  sacred  music  which  is  as  old  as  religious 
music  itself.  It  is  a  striking  fact  that  only  within  the 
last  six  hundred  or  seven  hundred  years,  and  only 
within  the  bounds  of  Christendom,  has  an  artificial  form 
of  worship  music  arisen  in  which  musical  forms  have 
become  emancipated  from  subjection  to  the  rhetorical 
laws  of  speech,  and  been  built  up  under  the  shaping  force 
of  inherent  musical  laws,  gaining  a  more  or  less  free 
play  for  the  creative  impulses  of  an  independent  art. 
The  conception  which  is  realized  in  the  Gregorian  chant, 
and  which  exclusively  prevailed  until  the  rise  of  the 
modern  polyphonic  system,  is  that  of  music  in  subjec- 
tion to  rite  and  liturgy,  its  own  charms  merged  and,  so 
far  as  conscious  intention  goes,  lost  in  the  paramount 
significance  of  text  and  action.  It  is  for  this  reason, 
together  with  the  historic  relation  of  chant  and  liturgy, 
that  the  rulers  of  the  Catholic  Church  have  always 
labored  so  strenuously  for   uniformity  in  the  liturgic 

99 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

chant  as  well  as  for  its  perpetuity.  There  are  even 
churchmen  at  the  present  time  who  urge  the  abandon- 
ment of  all  the  modern  forms  of  harmonized  music  and 
the  restoration  of  the  unison  chant  to  every  detail  of  the 
service.  A  notion  so  ascetic  and  monastic  can  never 
prevail,  but  one  who  has  fully  entered  into  the  spirit  of 
the  Plain  Song  melodies  can  at  least  sympathize  with 
the  reverence  which  such  a  reactionary  attitude  implies. 
There  is  a  solemn  unearthly  sweetness  in  these  tones 
which  appeals  irresistibly  to  those  who  have  become 
habituated  to  them.  They  have  maintained  for  cen- 
turies the  inevitable  comparison  with  every  other  form 
of  melody,  religious  and  secular,  and  there  is  reason  to 
believe  that  they  will  continue  to  sustain  all  possible 
rivalry,  until  they  at  last  outlive  every  other  form  of 
music  now  existing. 

No  one  can  obtain  any  proper  conception  of  this  mag- 
nificent Plain  Song  system  from  the  examples  which 
one  ordinarily  hears  in  Catholic  churches,  for  only 
a  minute  part  of  it  is  commonly  employed  at  the 
present  day.  Only  in  certain  convents  and  a  few 
churches  where  monastic  ideas  prevail,  and  where  priests 
and  choristers  are  enthusiastic  students  of  the  ancient 
liturgic  song,  can  we  hear  musical  performances  which 
afford  us  a  revelation  of  the  true  affluence  of  this  mediae- 
val treasure.  What  we  customarily  hear  is  only  the 
simpler  intonings  of  the  priest  at  his  ministrations,  and 
the  eight  "  psalm  tones  "  sung  alternately  by  priest  and 
choir.  These  "  psalm  tones "  or  "  Gregorian  tones  " 
are  plain  melodic  formulas,  with  variable  endings,  and 
are  appointed  to  be  sung  to  the  Latin  psalms  and  can- 

100 


THE   CATHOLIC  RITUAL    CHANT 

tides.  When  properly  delivered,  and  supported  by  an 
organist  who  knows  the  secret  of  accompanying  them, 
they  are  exceedingly  beautiful.  They  are  but  a  hint, 
however,  of  the  rich  store  of  melodies,  some  of  them 
very  elaborate  and  highly  organized,  which  the  chant- 
books  contain,  and  which  are  known  only  to  special 
students.  To  this  great  compendium  belong  the  chants 
anciently  assigned  to  those  portions  of  the  liturgy  which 
are  now  usually  sung  in  modern  settings,  —  the  Kyrie, 
Gloria,  Credo,  Sanctus,  Benedictus,  Agnus  Dei,  and  the 
variable  portions  of  the  Mass,  such  as  the  Introits, 
Graduals,  Prefaces,  Offertories,  Sequences,  etc.,  besides 
the  hymns  sung  at  Vespers  and  the  other  canonical 
hours.  Few  have  ever  explored  the  bulky  volumes 
which  contain  this  unique  bequest  of  the  Middle  Age  ; 
but  one  who  has  even  made  a  beginning  of  such  study, 
or  who  has  heard  the  florid  chants  worthily  performed 
in  the  traditional  style,  can  easily  understand  •  the  en- 
thusiasm which  these  strains  arouse  in  the  minds  of  those 
who  love  to  penetrate  to  the  innermost  shrines  of 
Catholic  devotional  expression. 

Example  of  Gregorian  Tones.     First  Tone  with  its  Endings. 


t^=X 


t=t 


^ 


iMt 


1^1         ^'— 


g;! o 


Ma  -  gni      -      ficat  auima      me  -  a      Do    -    mi  -  num. 


^=l==]=^"^h=^ 


:^z=?- 


^=rj^:^T=:izi^^     4    ^— ^L-^     g^: 


Et      ex        -        ulta    -    vit  Spi     -      ritus  me       -      us; 
101 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN   CHURCH 


^ 


tEE^. 


=t==t: 


m 


1^ 


in  Deo  sala 


ta   -    ri  me 


i 


^^^^^E^ 


II: 


m^ 


Anima 


me    -    a  Do        -      minum. 


J_l       J_^_i 


:m^ 


fr-zr 


Anima 


me   -  a        Do        -     mi 


:b 


^^ 


-G^  g)        -<9- 


Anima 


me    -    a       Domi    •      num 


^^ 


I 


^m^ 


JS. 


-g>  ;rg-  <g  S^ 


z^^ 


Anima 


me    -   a      Domi    -     num. 


Example  or  a  Florid  Chant. 


s: 


ww^nn^u^^ 


t 


^-a-^L^ 


'9—^  f^  ^  •-jg 


EP=^ 


Ky 


lei 


-^2— g — ■    ffl      ^      4 


S 


£ 


1^=0=2: 


tit:^ 


Chri  -    ste 


e      -      lei 


-G>-^^<9-, 


m 


'g-TS^'g^-^  4r:r 


-^-^ 


Ky 


ri  -  e         e        -         lei 
102 


THE   CATHOLIC  RITUAL   CHANT 

The  theory  and  practice  of  the  liturgic  chant  is  a 
science  of  large  dimensions  and  much  difficulty.  In  the 
course  of  centuries  a  vast  store  of  chant  melodies  has 
been  accumulated,  and  in  the  nature  of  the  case  many 
variants  of  the  older  melodies  —  those  composed  before 
the  development  of  a  precise  system  of  notation  —  have 
arisen,  so  that  the  verification  of  texts,  comparison  of 
authorities,  and  the  application  of  methods  of  rendering 
to  the  needs  of  the  complex  ceremonial  make  this  sub- 
ject a  very  important  branch  of  liturgical  science. 

The  Plain  Song  may  be  divided  into  the  simple  and 
the  ornate  chants.  In  the  first  class  the  melodies  are  to 
a  large  extent  syllabic  (one  note  to  a  syllable),  rarely 
with  more  than  two  notes  to  a  syllable.  The  simplest 
of  all  are  the  tones  employed  in  the  delivery  of  certain 
prayers,  the  Epistle,  Prophecy,  and  Gospel,  technically 
known  as  "  accents,"  which  vary  but  little  from  mono- 
tone. The  most  important  of  the  more  melodious  simple 
chants  are  the  "  Gregorian  tones "  already  mentioned. 
The  inflections  sung  to  the  versicles  and  responses  are 
also  included  among  the  simple  chants. 

The  ornate  chants  differ  greatly  in  length,  compass, 
and  degree  of  elaboration.  Some  of  these  melodies 
are  exceedingly  florid  and  many  are  of  great  beauty. 
They  constitute  the  original  settings  for  all  the  portions 
of  the  Mass  not  enumerated  among  the  simple  chants, 
viz.,  the  Kyrie,  Gloria,  Introit,  Prefaces,  Communion, 
etc.,  besides  the  Sequences  and  hymns.  Certain  of 
these  chants  are  so  elaborate  that  they  may  almost  be 
said  to  belong  to  a  separate  class.  Examination  of 
many  of   these   extended  melodies  will  often  disclose 

103 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

a  decided  approach  to  regularity  of  form  through  the 
recurrence  of  certain  definite  melodic  figures.  "  In  the 
Middle  Age,"  says  P.  Wagner,  "  nothing  was  known  of 
an  accompaniment ;  there  was  not  the  slightest  need  of 
one.  The  substance  of  the  musical  content,  which  we 
to-day  commit  to  interpretation  through  harmony,  the 
old  musicians  laid  upon  melody.  The  latter  accom- 
plished in  itself  the  complete  utterance  of  the  artisti- 
cally aroused  fantasy.  In  this  particular  the  melismas, 
which  carry  the  extensions  of  the  tones  of  the  melody, 
are  a  necessary  means  of  presentation  in  mediaeval  art ; 
they  proceed  logically  out  of  the  principle  of  the  unison 
melody."  "  Text  repetition  is  virtually  unknown  in 
the  unison  music  of  the  Middle  Age.  While  modern 
singers  repeat  an  especially  emphatic  thought  or  word, 
the  old  melodists  repeat  a  melody  or  phrase  which  ex- 
presses the  ground  mood  of  the  text  in  a  striking 
manner.  And  they  not  only  repeat  it,  but  they  make 
it  unfold,  and  draw  out  of  it  new  tones  of  melody. 
This  method  is  certainly  not  less  artistic  than  the  later 
text  repetition;  it  comes  nearer,  also,  to  the  natural 
expression  of  the  devotionally  inspired  heart."  ^ 

The  ritual  chant  has  its  special  laws  of  execution 
which  involve  long  study  on  the  part  of  one  who  wishes 
to  master  it.  Large  attention  is  given  in  the  best 
seminaries  to  the  purest  manner  of  delivering  the  chant, 
and  countless  treatises  have  been  written  upon  the  sub- 
ject. The  first  desideratum  is  an  accurate  pronun- 
ciation of  the  Latin,  and  a  facile  and  distinct  articula- 
tion.    The  notes  have  no  fixed  and  measurable  value, 

1  Wagner,  Einfiihrung  in  die  Gregorianischen  Melodien. 
104 


THE   CATHOLIC  RITUAL   CHANT 

and  are  not  intended  to  give  the  duration  of  the  tones, 
but  only  to  guide  the  modulation  of  the  voice.  The 
length  of  each  tone  is  determined  only  by  the  proper 
length  of  the  syllable.  In  this  principle  lies  the  very 
essence  of  Gregorian  chant,  and  it  is  the  point  at  which 
it  stands  in  exact  contradiction  to  the  theory  of  modern 
measured  music.  The  divisions  of  the  chant  are  given 
solely  by  the  text.  The  rhythm,  therefore,  is  that  of 
speech,  of  the  prose  text  to  which  the  chant  tones  are 
set.  The  rhythm  is  a  natural  rhythm,  a  succession  of 
syllables  combined  into  expressive  groups  by  means  of 
accent,  varied  pitch,  and  prolongations  of  tone.  The 
fundamental  rule  for  chanting  is :  "  Sing  the  words 
with  notes  as  you  would  speak  them  without  notes." 
This  does  not  imply  that  the  utterance  is  stiff  and 
mechanical  as  in  ordinary  conversation;  there  is  a 
heightening  of  the  natural  inflection  and  a  grouping  of 
notes,  as  in  impassioned  speech  or  the  most  refined 
declamation.  Like  the  notes  and  divisions,  the  pauses 
also  are  unequal  and  immeasurable,  and  are  determined 
only  by  the  sense  of  the  words  and  the  necessity  of 
taking  breath. 

In  the  long  florid  passages  often  occurring  on  a  single 
vowel  analogous  rules  are  involved.  The  text  and 
the  laws  of  natural  recitation  must  predominate  over 
melody.  The  jubilations  are  not  to  be  conceived  sim- 
ply as  musical  embellishments,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
their  beauty  depends  upon  tlie  melodic  accents  to  which 
they  are  joined  in  a  subordinate  position.  These  florid 
passages  are  never  introduced  thoughtlessly  or  without 
meaning,   but  they   are   strictly   for  emphasizing    the 

105 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

thought  with  which  they  are  connected ;  "  they  make 
the  soul  in  singing  fathom  the  deeper  sense  of  the 
words,  and  to  taste  of  the  mysteries  hidden  within 
them."*  The  particular  figures  must  be  kept  apart 
and  distinguished  from  each  other,  and  brought  into 
union  with  each  other,  like  the  words,  clauses,  and  sen- 
tences of  an  oration.  Even  these  florid  passages  are 
dependent  upon  the  influence  of  the  words  and  tlieir 
character  of  prayer. 

The  principles  above  cited  concern  the  rhythm  of  the 
chant.  Other  elements  of  expression  must  also  be 
taken  into  account,  such  as  prolonging  and  shortening 
tones,  crescendos  and  diminuendos,  subtle  changes  of 
quality  of  voice  or  tone  color  to  suit  different  senti- 
ments. The  manner  of  singing  is  also  affected  by  the 
conditions  of  time  and  place,  such  as  the  degree  of  the 
solemnity  of  the  occasion,  and  the  dimensions  and 
acoustic  properties  of  the  edifice  in  which  the  ceremony 
is  held. 

In  the  singing  of  the  mediaeval  hymn  melodies,  many 
beautiful  examples  of  which  abound  in  the  Catholic 
office  books,  the  above  rules  of  rhythm  and  expression 
are  modified  as  befits  the  more  regular  metrical  char- 
acter which  the  melodies  derive  from  the  verse.  They 
are  not  so  rigid,  however,  as  would  be  indicated  by  the 
bar  lines  of  modern  notation,  and  follow  the  same  laws 
of  rhythm  that  would  obtain  in  spoken  recitation. 

The  liturgic  chant  of  the  Catholic  Church  has  already 
been  alluded  to  under  its  more  popular  title  of  "  Gre- 
gorian."    Throughout  the   Middle   Age   and  down   to 

^  Saoter,  Choral  und  Liturgie. 
106 


THE   CATHOLIC  RITUAL   CHANT 

our  own  day  nothing  in  history  has  been  more  generally 
received  as  beyond  question  than  that  the  Catholic 
chant  is  entitled  to  this  appellation  from  the  work  per- 
formed in  its  behalf  by  Pope  Gregory  I.,  called  the 
Great.  This  eminent  man,  who  reigned  from  590 
to  604,  was  the  ablest  of  the  succession  of  early  pontifEs 
who  formulated  the  line  of  policy  which  converted 
the  barbarians  of  the  North  and  West,  brought  about 
the  spiritual  and  political  autonomy  of  the  Roman  See, 
and  confirmed  its  supremacy  over  all  the  churches  of 
the  West. 

In  addition  to  these  genuine  services  historians  have 
generally  concurred  in  ascribing  to  him  a  final  shaping 
influence  upon  the  liturgic  chant,  with  which,  however, 
he  probably  had  very  little  to  do.  His  supposed  work 
in  this  department  has  been  divided  into  the  following 
four  details : 

(1)  He  freed  the  church  song  from  the  fetters  of 
Greek  prosody. 

(2)  He  collected  the  chants  previously  existing,  added 
others,  provided  them  with  a  system  of  notation,  and 
wrote  them  down  in  a  book  which  was  afterwards 
called  the  Antiphonary  of  St.  Gregory,  which  he  fastened 
to  the  altar  of  St.  Peter's  Church,  in  oixier  that  it  might 
serve  as  an  authoritative  standard  in  all  cases  of  doubt 
in  regard  to  the  true  form  of  chant. 

(3)  He  established  a  singing  school  in  which  he  gave 
instruction. 

(4)  He  added  four  new  scales  to  the  four  previously 
existing,  thus  completing  the  tonal  system  of  the 
Church. 

107 


MVStC  tN  fUn    WESTERN  CHURCH 

The  prime  authority  for  these  statements  is  the 
biography  of  Gregory  I.,  written  by  John  the  Deacon 
about  872.  Detached  allusions  to  this  pope  as  the 
founder  of  the  liturgic  chant  appear  before  John's  day, 
the  earliest  being  in  a  manuscript  addressed  by  Pope 
Hadrian  I.  to  Charlemagne  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
eighth  century,  nearly  two  hundred  years  after  Gregory's 
death.  The  evidences  which  tend  to  show  that  Gregory 
I.  could  not  have  had  anything  to  do  with  this  impor- 
tant work  of  sifting,  arranging,  and  noting  the  liturgic 
melodies  become  strong  as  soon  as  they  are  impartially 
examined.  In  Gregory's  very  voluminous  correspond- 
ence, which  covers  every  known  phase  of  his  restless 
activity,  there  is  no  allusion  to  any  such  work  in 
respect  to  the  music  of  the  Church,  as  there  almost 
certainly  would  have  been  if  he  had  undertaken  to 
bring  about  uniformity  in  the  musical  practice  of 
all  the  churches  under  his  administration.  The  asser- 
tions of  John  the  Deacon  are  not  confirmed  by  any 
anterior  document.  No  epitaph  of  Gregory,  no  con- 
temporary records,  no  ancient  panegyrics  of  the  pope, 
touch  upon  the  question.  Isidor  of  Seville,  a  contem- 
porary of  Gregory,  and  the  Venerable  Bede  in  the  next 
centuiy,  were  especially  interested  in  the  liturgic  chant 
and  wrote  upon  it,  yet  they  make  no  mention  of 
Gregory  in  connection  with  it.  The  documents  upon 
which  John  bases  his  assertion,  the  so-called  Gregorian 
Antiphonary,  do  not  agree  with  the  ecclesiastical  cal- 
endar of  the  actual  time  of  Gregory  I. 

In  reply  to  these  objections  and  others  that  might 
be  given  there  is  no  answer  but  legend,  which  John 

108 


THE   CATHOLIC  RITUAL   CHANT 

the  Deacon  incorporated  in  his  work,  and  which  was 
generally  accepted  toward  the  close  of  the  eleventh 
century.  That  this  legend  should  have  arisen  is  not 
strange.  It  is  no  uncommon  thing  in  an  uncritical  age 
for  the  achievement  of  many  minds  in  a  whole  epoch 
to  be  attributed  to  the  most  commanding  personality 
in  that  epoch,  and  such  a  personality  in  the  sixth  and 
seventh  centuries  was  Gregory  the  Great. 

What,  then,  is  the  origin  of  the  so-called  Gregorian 
chant?  There  is  hardly  a  more  interesting  question 
in  the  whole  history  of  music,  for  this  chant  is  the 
basis  of  the  whole  magnificent  structure  of  mediseval 
church  song,  and  in  a  certain  sense  of  all  modern  music, 
and  it  can  be  traced  back  unbroken  to  the  earliest 
years  of  the  Christian  Church,  the  most  persistent  and 
fruitful  form  of  art  that  the  modern  world  has  known. 
The  most  exhaustive  study  that  has  been  devoted  to 
this  obscure  subject  has  been  undertaken  by  Gevaert, 
director  of  the  Brussels  Conservatory  of  Music,  who 
has  brought  forward  strong  representation  to  show  that 
the  musical  system  of  the  early  Church  of  Rome  was 
largely  derived  from  the  secular  forms  of  music  prac- 
tised in  the  private  and  social  life  of  the  Romans  in 
the  time  of  the  empire,  and  which  were  brought  to 
Rome  from  Greece  after  the  conquest  of  that  country 
B.C.  146.  "  No  one  to-day  doubts,"  says  Gevaert, 
"that  the  modes  and  melodies  of  the  Catholic  liturgy 
are  a  precious  remains  of  antique  art."  "The  Chris- 
tian chant  took  its  modal  scales  to  the  number  of  four, 
and  its  melodic  themes,  from  the  musical  practice  of 
the   Roman   empire,   and    particularly   from   the   song 

109 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

given  to  the  accompaniment  of  the  kithara,  the  special 
style  of  music  cultivated  in  private  life.  The  most 
ancient  monuments  of  the  liturgic  chant  go  back  to 
the  boundary  of  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries,  when 
the  forms  of  worship  began  to  be  arrested  in  their 
present  shape.  Like  the  Latin  language,  the  Greco- 
Koman  music  entered  in  like  manner  into  the  Catholic 
Church,  Vocabulary  and  syntax  are  the  same  with  the 
pagan  Symmachus  and  his  contemporary  St.  Ambrose ; 
modes  and  rules  of  musical  composition  are  identical 
in  the  hymns  which  Mesomedes  addresses  to  the  divini- 
ties of  paganism  and  in  the  cantilenas  of  the  Christian 
singei's."  "  The  compilation  and  composition  of  the 
liturgic  songs,  which  was  traditionally  ascribed  to  St. 
Gregory  I.,  is  in  truth  a  work  of  the  Hellenic  popes  at 
the  end  of  the  seventh  and  the  beginning  of  the  eighth 
centuries.  The  Antiphonarium  Missarum  received  its 
definitive  form  between  682  and  715;  the  Antiphona- 
rium Officii  was  already  fixed  under  Pope  Agathon 
(678-681)."  In  the  fourth  century,  according  to 
Gevaert,  antiphons  were  already  known  in  the  East. 
St.  Ambrose  is  said  to  have  transplanted  them  into  the 
West.  Pope  Celestine  I.  (422-472)  has  been  called 
the  founder  of  the  antiphonal  song  in  the  Roman 
Church.  Leo  the  Great  (440-461)  gave  the  song  per- 
manence by  the  establishment  of  a  singing  school  in  the 
neighborhood  of  St.  Peter's.  Thus  from  the  fifth  cen- 
tury to  the  latter  part  of  the  seventh  grew  the  treasure 
of  melody,  together  with  the  unfolding  of  the  liturgy. 
The  four  authentic  modes  were  adaptations  of  four 
modes   employed   by  the    Greeks.     The   oldest  chants 

110 


THE   CATHOLIC  RITUAL   CHANT 

are  the  simplest,  and  of  those  now  in  existence  the 
antiphons  of  the  Divine  Office  can  be  traced  farthest 
back  to  the  tiansition  point  from  the  Greco-Roman 
practice  to  that  of  the  Christian  Church.  The  florid 
chants  were  of  later  introduction,  and  were  probably 
the  contribution    of  the  Greek  and  Syrian  Churches.^ 

The  Christian  chants  were,  however,  no  mere  repro- 
ductions of  profane  melodies.  The  groundwork  of  the 
chant  is  allied  to  the  Greek  melody  ;  the  Christian  song 
is  of  a  much  richer  melodic  movement,  bearing  in  all 
its  forms  the  evidence  of  the  exuberant  spiritual  life  of 
which  it  is  the  chosen  expression.  The  pagan  melody 
was  sung  to  an  instrument ;  the  Christian  was  unac- 
companied, and  was  therefore  free  to  develop  a  special 
rhythmical  and  melodic  character  unconditioned  by  any 
laws  except  those  involved  in  pure  vocal  expression. 
The  fact  also  that  the  Christian  melodies  were  set  to 
unmetrical  texts,  while  the  Greek  melody  was  wholly 
confined  to  verse,  marked  the  emancipation  of  the  litur- 
gic  song  from  the  bondage  of  strict  prosody,  and  gave 
a  wider  field  to  melodic  and  rhythmic  development. 

It  would  be  too  much  to  say  that  Gevaert  has  com- 
pletely made  out  his  case.  The  impossibility  of  verify- 
ing the  exact  primitive  form  of  the  oldest  chants,  and 
the  almost  complete  disappeamnce  of  the  Greco-Roman 

*  Gevaert  first  announced  his  conclusions  in  a  discourse  pronounced  at 
a  public  session  of  the  class  in  fine  arts  of  the  Academy  of  Belgium  at 
Brussels,  and  which  was  published  in  1890,  under  the  title  of  Z-es  Origincs 
da  Chant  Uturf/igne  dt  I'hglisc  Uitiue.  This  essay  wa.s  amplified  five 
years  later  into  a  volume  of  446  pages,  entitled  Im.  M^ope'e  antique  dant 
le  Chant  de  I'Eglise  latine.  These  works  are  published  by  Ad  Iloste 
Ghent. 

Ill 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

melodies  which  are  supposed  to  be  the  antecedent  or  the 
suggestion  of  the  early  Christian  tone  formulas,  make 
a  positive  demonstration  in  such  a  case  out  of  the 
question.  Gevaert  seems  to  rely  mainly  upon  the  iden- 
tity of  modes  or  keys  which  exists  between  the  most 
ancient  church  melodies  and  those  most  in  use  in  the 
kithara  song.  Other  explanations,  more  or  less  plaus- 
ible, have  been  advanced,  and  it  is  not  impossible  that 
the  simpler  melodies  may  have  arisen  in  an  idealization 
of  the  natural  speech  accent,  with  a  view  to  procuring 
measured  and  agreeable  cadences.  Both  methods  — 
actual  adaptations  of  older  tunes  and  the  spontaneous 
enunciation  of  more  obvious  melodic  formulas  —  may 
have  been  allied  in  the  production  of  the  earher  liturgic 
cliants.  The  laws  that  have  been  found  valid  in  the 
development  of  all  art  would  make  the  derivation  of 
the  ecclesiastical  melodies  from  elements  existing  in  the 
environment  of  the  early  Church  a  logical  and  reason- 
able supposition,  even  in  the  absence  of  documentary 
evidence. 

There  is  no  proof  of  the  existence  of  a  definite 
system  of  notation  before  the  seventh  century.  The 
chanters,  priests,  deacons,  and  monks,  in  applying  melo- 
dies to  the  text  of  the  office,  composed  by  aid  of  their 
memories,  and  their  melodies  were  transmitted  by  mem- 
ory, although  probably  with  the  help  of  arbitrary  mne- 
monic signs.  The  possibility  of  this  will  readily  be 
granted  when  we  consider  that  special  orders  of  monks 
made  it  their  sole  business  to  preserve,  sing,  and  teach 
these  melodies.  In  the  confusion  and  misery  following 
the  downfall  of  the  kingdom  of  the  Goths  in  tlie  middle 

112 


THE  CATHOLIC  RITUAL   CHANT 

of  the  sixth  century  the  Church  became  a  sanctuary  of 
refuge  from  the  evils  of  the  time.  Witli  the  revival 
of  reUgious  zeal  and  the  accession  of  strength  the 
Church  flourished,  basilicas  and  convents  were  multi- 
plied, solemnities  increased  in  number  and  splendor, 
and  with  other  liturgic  elements  the  chant  expanded. 
A  number  of  popes  in  the  seventh  century  were  enthusi- 
astic lovers  of  Church  music,  and  gave  it  the  full  bene- 
fit of  their  authority.  Among  these  were  Gregory  II. 
and  Gregory  III.,  one  of  whom  may  have  inadvertently 
given  his  name  to  the  chant. 

The  system  of  tonality  upon  which  the  music  of  the 
Middle  Age  was  based  was  the  modal  or  diatonic.  The 
modern  system  of  transposing  scales,  each  major  or 
minor  scale  containing  the  same  succession  of  steps  and 
half  steps  as  each  of  its  fellows,  dates  no  further  back 
than  the  first  half  of  the  seventeenth  century.  Tlie 
mediaeval  system  comprises  theoretically  fourteen,  in 
actual  use  twelve,  distinct  modes  or  keys,  known  as 
the  ecclesiastical  modes  or  Gregorian  modes.  These 
modes  are  divided  into  two  classes  —  the  "  authentic  " 
and  "  plagal."  The  compass  of  each  of  the  authentic 
modes  lies  between  the  keynote,  called  the  "  final,"  and 
the  octave  above,  and  includes  the  notes  represented 
by  the  white  keys  of  the  pianoforte,  excluding  sharps 
and  flats.  The  first  authentic  mode  begins  on  D,  the 
second  on  E,  and  so  on.  Every  authentic  mode  is 
connected  with  a  mode  known  as  its  plagal,  which 
consists  of  the  last  four  notes  of  the  authentic  mode 
transposed  an  octave  below,  and  followed  by  tlie  first 
five  notes  of  the  authentic,  the  "  final "  being  the 
8  .  113 


MUSIC  IN  THE   WESTERN  CHURCH 

same  in  the  two  modes.  The  modes  are  sometimes 
transposed  a  fifth  lower  or  a  fourth  higher  by  means 
of  flatting  the  B.  During  the  epoch  of  the  foundation 
of  the  liturgic  chant  only  the  first  eight  modes  (four 
authentic  and  four  plagal)  were  in  use.  The  first  four 
authentic  modes  were  popularly  attributed  to  St.  Am- 
brose, bishop  of  Milan  in  the  fourth  century,  and  the 
first  four  plagal  to  St.  Gregory,  but  there  is  no  historic 
basis  for  this  tradition.  The  last  two  modes  are  a  later 
addition  to  the  system.  The  Greek  names  are  those 
by  which  the  modes  are  popularly  known,  and  indicate 
a  hypothetical  connection  with  the  ancient  Greek  scale 
system. 

Authentic  Modes.  Pla.oal  Modes. 

I.  Dorian.  II.  Hypo-dorian. 


i 


i 


sr 


-<5>- 


-a—^- 


III.  Phrygian.  IV.  Hypo-phrygian. 


^ 


-sr-^- 


-O—^- 


V.  Lydian.  VI.  Hypo-lydian. 


1 


=.^=^=^ 


"z?- 


ZML 


-6h 


ss—^ 


% 


VII.  Mixo-lydian.  VIIL  Hvpo-mixo-lydian. 


114 


THE   CATHOLIC  RITUAL   CHANT 


Later  Additions. 
IX.  .^olian.  X.  Hypo-seolian. 


is: 


I 


77-^^  .     ^     ^^^ 


II. 


XI.  Ionian.  XII.  Hypo-ionian. 


^]  __^     ^^ 


tJ 


e==— ^-^^^- 


To  suppose  that  the  chant  in  this  period  was  sung 
exactly  as  it  appears  in  the  office  books  of  the  present 
day  would  be  to  ignore  a  very  characteristic  and  uni- 
versal usage  in  the  Middle  Age.  No  privilege  was  more 
freely  accorded  to  the  mediaeval  chanter  than  that  of 
adding  to  the  melody  whatever  embellishment  he  might 
choose  freely  to  invent  on  the  impulse  of  the  moment. 
The  right  claimed  by  Italian  opera  singers  down  to 
a  very  recent  date  to  decorate  the  phrases  with  trills, 
cadenzas,  etc.,  even  to  the  extent  of  altering  the  written 
notes  themselves,  is  only  the  perpetuation  of  a  practice 
generally  prevalent  in  the  mediaeval  Church,  and  which 
may  have  come  down,  for  anything  we  know  to  the 
contrary,  from  remote  antiquity.  In  fact,  the  require- 
ment of  singing  tlie  notes  exactly  as  they  are  written 
is  a  modern  idea ;  no  such  rule  wjis  recognized  as  in- 
variably binding  until  well  into  the  nineteenth  century. 
It  was  no  uncommon  thing  in  Handel's  time  and  after 
to  introduce  free  embellishments  even  into  "  I  know 
that  my  Redeemer  liveth  "  in  the  "  Messiah."  In  the 
Middle  Age  the  singers  in  church  and  convent  took 
great  merit  to  themselves  for  the  inventive  ability  and 

115 


MUSIC  IN  THE   WESTERN  CHURCH 

vocal  adroitness  by  which  they  were  able  to  sprinkle  the 
plain  notes  of  the  chant  with  improvised  embellish- 
ments. "  Moreover,  there  existed  in  the  liturgic  text 
a  certain  number  of  words  upon  which  the  singers  had 
the  liberty  of  dilating  according  to  their  fancy.  Ac- 
coi-ding  to  an  ancient  Christian  tradition,  certain  chants 
were  followed  by  a  number  of  notes  sung  upon  meaning- 
less vowels ;  these  notes,  called  neumes  or  jubili,  rendered, 
in  accordance  with  a  poetic  thought,  the  faith  and  ado- 
ration of  the  worshipers  who  appeared  to  be  unable  to 
find  words  that  could  express  their  sentiments.  These 
vocalizations  or  embroideries  were  sometimes  longer  than 
the  chants  themselves,  and  many  authors  complained 
of  the  importance  given  to  these  vocal  fantasies."  ^ 
Among  the  mnemonic  signs  which,  before  the  invention 
of  the  staff  and  notation  system,  indicated  the  changes 
of  pitch  to  be  observed  by  the  singer,  there  wei-e 
many  that  unmistiikably  point  to  the  traditional  flour- 
ishes which  had  become  an  integral  element  in  the 
Plain  Song  system.  Many  of  these  survived  and  were 
carried  over  into  secular  music  after  the  method  of 
chanting  became  more  simple  and  severe.  Similar  li- 
cense was  also  practised  in  the  later  period  of  part 
singing,  and  not  only  in  the  rude  early  counterpoint 
of  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries,  but  even 
in  the  highly  developed  and  specialized  chorus  music 
of  the  sixteenth  century,  the  embellishments  which 
were  reduced  to  a  system  and  handed  down  by  tradition, 
gave  to  this  art  a  style  and  effect  the  nature  of  which 
has  now  fallen  from  the  knowledge  of  men. 

^  Lemaire,  Le  Chant,  ses  principes  et  son  histoire. 
116 


THE  CATHOLIC  RITUAL   CHANT 

Such  was  the  nature  of  the  song  which  resounded 
about  the  altars  of  Roman  basilicas  and  through  convent 
cloisters  in  the  seventh  and  eighth  centuries,  and  which 
has  remained  the  sanctioned  official  speech  of  the  Catholic 
Church  in  her  ritual  functions  to  the  present  day.  No- 
where did  it  suffer  any  material  change  or  addition  until 
it  became  the  basis  of  a  new  harmonic  art  in  Northern 
Europe  in  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries.  The 
chant  according  to  the  Roman  use  began  to  extend  itself 
over  Europe  in  connection  with  the  missionary  efforts 
which  emanated  from  Rome  from  the  time  of  Gregory 
the  Great.  Augustine,  the  emissary  of  Gregory,  who 
went  to  England  in  597  to  convert  the  Saxons,  carried 
with  him  the  Roman  chant.  "  The  band  of  monks," 
says  Green,  "  entered  Canterbury  bearing  before  them  a 
silver  cross  with  a  picture  of  Christ,  and  singing  in  con- 
cert the  strains  of  the  litany  of  their  church."  ^  And 
although  the  broad-minded  Gregory  instructed  Augustine 
not  to  insist  upon  supplanting  with  the  Roman  use  the 
liturgy  already  employed  in  the  older  British  churches  if 
such  an  attempt  would  create  hostility,  yet  the  Roman 
chant  was  adopted  both  at  Canterbury  and  York. 

The  Roman  chant  was  accepted  eventually  throughout 
the  dominions  of  the  Church  as  an  essential  element  of 
the  Roman  liturgy.  Both  shared  the  same  struggles  and 
the  same  triumphs.  Familiarity  with  the  cliurch  song 
became  an  indispensable  part  of  the  equipment  of  every 
clergyman,  monastic  and  secular.  No  missionary  might 
go  forth  from  Rome  who  was  not  adept  in  it.  Monks 
made  dangerous  journeys  to  Rome  from  the  remotest 

^  Green,  Short  History  of  the  English  People, 

117 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

districts  in  order  to  learn  it.  Every  monastery  founded 
in  the  savage  forests  of  Germany,  Gaul,  or  Britain  became 
at  once  a  singing  school,  and  day  and  night  the  holy 
strains  went  up  in  unison  with  the  melodies  of  the  far 
distant  sacred  city.  The  Anglo-Saxon  monk  Winfrid, 
afterward  known  as  Boniface,  the  famous  missionary  to 
the  Germans,  planted  the  Roman  liturgy  in  Thuringia 
and  Hesse,  and  devoted  untiring  efforts  to  teaching  the 
Gregorian  song  to  his  barbarous  proselytes.  In  Spain, 
Ildefonso,  about  600,  is  enrolled  among  the  zealous 
promoters  of  sacred  song  according  to  the  use  of  Rome. 
Most  eminent  and  most  successful  of  all  who  labored  for 
the  exclusive  authority  of  the  Roman  chant  as  against 
the  Milanese,  Galilean,  and  other  rival  forms  was  Charle- 
magne, king  of  the  Franks  from  768  to  814,  whose  per- 
sistent efforts  to  implant  the  Gregorian  song  in  every 
church  and  school  in  his  wide  dominions  was  an  impor- 
tant detail  of  his  labor  in  the  interest  of  liturgic  unifor- 
mity according  to  the  Roman  model. 

Among  the  convent  schools  which  performed  such 
priceless  service  for  civilization  in  the  gloomy  period 
of  the  early  Middle  Age,  the  monastery  of  St.  Gall 
m  Switzerland  holds  an  especially  distinguished  place. 
This  convent  was  established  in  the  seventh  century 
by  the  Irish  monk  from  whom  it  took  its  name,  rapidly 
increased  in  repute  as  a  centre  of  piety  and  learn- 
ing, and  during  the  eighth,  ninth,  and  tenth  centuries 
numbered  some  of  the  foremost  scholars  of  the  time 
among  its  brotherhood.  About  790  two  monks,  versed 
in  all  the  lore  of  the  liturgic  chant,  were  sent  from  Rome 
into  the  empire  of  Charlemagne  at  the  monarch's  request. 

118 


THE  CATHOLIC  RITUAL  CHANT 

One  of  them,  Romanus,  was  received  and  entertained  by 
the  monks  of  St.  Gall,  and  was  persuaded  to  remain  with 
them  as  teacher  of  church  song  according  to  the  Antiph- 
onaiy  which  he  had  brought  with  him  from  Rome. 
St.  Gall  soon  became  famous  as  a  place  where  the  pur- 
est traditions  of  the  Roman  chant  were  taught  and 
practised.  Schubiger,  in  his  extremely  interesting  work, 
Die  Sangerschule  St.  Gallens  vom  VIII.-XII.  Jahr- 
hunderty  has  given  an  extended  account  of  the  methods 
of  devotional  song  in  use  at  St.  Gall,  which  may  serve 
as  an  illustration  of  the  general  practice  among  the 
pious  monks  of  the  Middle  Age : 

"  In  the  reign  of  Charlemagne  (803)  the  Council  of  Aachen 
enjoined  upon  all  monasteries  the  use  of  the  Roman  song, 
and  a  later  capitulary  required  that  the  monks  should 
perform  this  song  completely  and  in  proper  order  at  the 
divine  office,  in  the  daytime  as  well  as  at  night.  According 
to  other  rescripts  duringthe  reign  of  Louis  the  Pious  (about 
820)  the  monks  of  St.  Gall  were  required  daily  to  celebrate 
Mass,  and  also  to  perform  the  service  of  all  the  canonical 
hours.  The  solemn  melodies  of  the  ancient  psalmody  re- 
sounded daily  in  manifold  and  precisely  ordered  responses  ; 
at  the  midnight  hour  the  sound  of  the  Invitatorium,  Venite 
exuiuamus  Domino,  opened  the  service  of  the  nocturnal 
vigils ;  the  prolonged,  almost  mournful  tones  of  the  re- 
sponses alternated  with  the  intoned  recitation  of  the 
lessons  ;  in  the  spaces  of  the  temple  on  Sundays  and  festal 
days,  at  the  close  of  the  nightly  worship,  there  reechoed 
the  exalted  strains  of  the  Ambrosian  hymn  of  praise  (Te 
Deum  laudamus) ;  at  the  first  dawn  of  day  began  the  morn- 
ing adoration,   with    psalms   and    antiphons,   bymr ;  and 

119 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

prayers ;  to  these  succeeded  in  due  order  the  remaining 
offices  of  the  diurnal  hours.  The  people  were  daily  in- 
vited by  the  Introit  to  participate  in  the  holy  mysteries ; 
they  heard  in  solemn  stillness  the  tones  of  the  Kyrie  im- 
ploring mercy ;  on  festal  days  they  were  inspired  by  the 
song  once  sung  by  the  host  of  angels ;  after  the  Gradual 
they  heard  the  melodies  of  the  Sequence  which  glorified  the 
object  of  the  festival  in  jubilant  choral  strains,  and  after- 
ward the  simple  recitative  tones  of  the  Creed ;  at  the 
Sanctus  they  were  summoned  to  join  in  the  praise  of  the 
Thrice  Holy,  and  to  implore  the  mercy  of  the  Lamb  who 
taketh  away  the  sins  of  the  world.  These  were  the  songs 
which,  about  the  middle  of  the  ninth  century,  arose  on 
festal  or  ferial  days  in  the  cloister  church  of  St.  Gall.  How 
much  store  the  fathers  of  this  convent  set  upon  beauty  and 
edification  in  song  appears  from  the  old  regulations  in 
which  distinct  pronunciation  of  words  and  uniformity  of 
rendering  are  enjoined,  and  hastening  or  dragging  the  time 
sharply  rebuked." 

Schubiger  goes  on  to  say  that  three  styles  of  perform- 
ing the  chant  were  employed ;  viz.,  a  very  solemn  one 
for  the  highest  festivals,  one  less  solemn  for  Sundays 
and  saints'  days,  and  an  ordinary  one  for  ferial  days. 
An  appropriate  character  was  given  to  the  different 
chants,  —  e.  g.,  a  profound  and  mournful  expression  in 
the  office  for  the  dead  ;  an  expression  of  tenderness  and 
sweetness  to  the  hymns,  the  Kyrie,  Sanctus,  and  Agnus 
Dei;  and  a  dignified  character  (cantus  gravis)  to  the 
antiphons,  responses,  and  alleluia.  Anything  that  could 
disturb  the  strict  and  euphonious  rendering  of  the  song 
was  strictly  forbidden.     Harsh,  unmusical  voices  were 

120 


THE  CATHOLIC  RITUAL   CHANT 

not  permitted,  to  take  part.  Distinctness,  precise  con- 
formity of  all  the  singers  in  respect  to  time,  and  purity 
of  intonation  were  inflexibly  demanded. 

Special  services,  with  processions  and  appropriate 
hymns,  were  instituted  on  the  occasion  of  the  visit  to 
the  monastery  of  the  emperor  or  other  high  dignitary. 
All  public  observances,  the  founding  of  a  building,  the 
reception  of  holy  relics,  the  consecration  of  a  bell  or 
altar,  —  even  many  of  the  prescribed  routine  duties  of 
conventual  Hfe,  such  as  drawing  water,  lighting  lamps, 
or  kindling  fires,  —  each  had  its  special  form  of  song.  It 
was  not  enthusiasm,  but  sober  truth,  that  led  Ekke- 
hard  V.  to  say  that  the  rulers  of  this  convent,  "  through 
their  songs  and  melodies,  as  also  through  their  teachings, 
filled  the  Church  of  God,  not  only  in  Germany,  but  in 
all  lands  from  one  sea  to  the  other,  with  splendor  and 

joy." 

At  the  convent  of  St.  Gall  originated  the  class  of  litur- 
gical hymns  called  Sequences,  which  includes  some  of 
the  finest  examples  of  mediaeval  hymnody.  At  a  very 
early  period  it  became  the  custom  to  sing  the  Alleluia 
of  the  Gradual  to  a  florid  chant,  the  final  vowel  being 
extended  into  an  exceedingly  elaborate  flourish  of  notes. 
Notker  Balbulus,  a  notable  member  of  the  St.  Gall 
brotherhood  in  the  ninth  century,  conceived  the  notion, 
under  the  suggestion  of  a  visiting  monk,  of  making  a 
practical  use  of  the  long-winded  final  cadence  of  the 
Alleluia.  He  extended  and  modified  these  melodious 
passages  and  set  words  to  them,  thus  constructing  a 
brief  form  of  prose  hymn.  His  next  step  was  to  invent 
both  notes  and  text,  giving  his  chants  a  certain  crude 

121 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

form  by  the  occasional  repetition  of  a  melodic  strain. 
He  preserved  a  loose  connection  with  the  Alleluia  by 
retaining  the  mode  and  the  first  few  tones.  These  ex- 
periments found  great  favor  in  the  eyes  of  the  brethren 
of  St.  Gall ;  others  followed  Notker's  example,  and  the 
Sequence  melodies  were  given  honored  places  in  the  rit- 
ual on  festal  days  and  various  solemn  occasions.  The 
custom  spread  ;  Pope  Nicholas  I.  in  860  permitted  the 
adoption  of  the  new  style  of  hymn  into  the  liturgy. 
The  early  Sequences  were  in  rhythmic  prose,  but  in  the 
hands  of  the  ecclesiastical  poets  of  the  few  centuries 
following  they  were  written  in  rhymed  verse.  The  Se- 
quence was  therefore  distinguished  from  other  Latin 
hymns  only  by  its  adoption  into  the  office  of  the  Mass 
as  a  regular  member  of  the  liturgy  on  certain  festal  days. 
The  number  increased  to  such  large  proportions  that  a 
sifting  process  was  deemed  necessary,  and  upon  the  oc- 
casion of  the  reform  of  the  Missal  through  Pius  V.  after 
the  Council  of  Trent  only  five  were  retained,  viz.,  Vic- 
timae  paschali,  sung  on  Easter  Sunday;  Veni  Sancte 
Spiritus,  appointed  for  Whit-Sunday ;  Lauda  Sion,  for 
Corpus  Christi ;  Stabat  Mater  dolorosa,  for  Friday  of 
Passion  Week;  and  Dies  Irae,  which  forms  a  portion 
of  the  Mass  for  the  Dead. 

Many  beautiful  and  touching  stories  have  come  down 
to  us,  illustrating  the  passionate  love  of  the  monks 
for  their  songs,  and  the  devout,  even  superstitious, 
reverence  with  which  they  regarded  them.  Among 
these  are  the  tales  of  the  Armorican  monk  Hervd, 
in  the  sixth  century,  who,  blind  from  his  birth,  be- 
came   the    inspirer  and    teacher   of    his    brethren    by 

122 


THE   CATHOLIC  RITUAL   CHANT 

means  of  his  improvised  songs,  and  the  patron  of 
mendicant  singers,  who  still  chant  his  legend  in 
Breton  verse.  His  mother,  so  one  story  goes,  went 
one  day  to  visit  him  in  the  cloister,  and,  as  she  was  ap- 
proaching, said :  "  I  see  a  procession  of  monks  advancing, 
and  I  hear  the  voice  of  my  son.  God  be  with  you,  my 
son !  When,  with  the  help  of  God,  I  get  to  heaven,  you 
shall  be  warned  of  it,  you  shall  hear  the  angels  sing." 
The  same  evening  she  died,  and  her  son,  while  at  prayer 
in  his  cell,  heard  the  singing  of  the  angels  as  they 
welcomed  her  soul  in  heaven.*  According  to  another 
legend,  told  by  Gregory  of  Tours,  a  mother  had  taken 
her  only  son  to  a  monasteiy  near  Lake  Geneva,  where 
he  became  a  monk,  and  especially  skilful  in  chanting  the 
liturgic  service.  "  He  fell  sick  and  died ;  his  mother 
in  despair  came  to  bury  him,  and  returned  every  night 
to  weep  and  lament  over  his  tomb.  One  night  she  saw 
St.  Maurice  in  a  dream  attempting  to  console  her,  but 
she  answered  him,  '  No,  no ;  as  long  as  I  live  I  sliall 
always  weep  for  my  son,  my  only  child  1'  'But,'  an- 
swered the  saint,  '  he  must  not  be  wept  for  as  if  he  were 
dead ;  he  is  with  us,  he  rejoices  in  eternal  life,  and  to- 
morrow, at  Matins,  in  the  monastery,  thou  shalt  hear  his 
voice  among  tlie  choir  of  tlie  monks ;  and  not  to-morrow 
only,  but  every  day  as  long  as  thou  livest.'  The  mother 
immediately  arose,  and  waited  with  impatience  the  first 
sound  of  the  bell  for  Matins,  to  liasten  to  the  church  of 
the  monks.  The  precentor  having  intoned  the  response, 
when  the  monks  in  full  choir  took  up  the  antiphon,  the 
mother  immediately  recognized  the  voice  of  her  child. 

1  Montalembert,  The  Monks  of  the  West,  vol.  ii. 
123 


MUSIC  IN  THE   WESTERN  CHURCH 

She  gave  thanks  to  God ;  and  every  day  for  the  rest  of 
her  life,  the  moment  she  approached  the  choir  she  heard 
the  voice  of  her  well-beloved  son  mingle  in  the  sweet 
and  holy  melody  of  the  liturgic  chant."  ^ 

As  centuries  went  on,  and  these  ancient  melodies, 
gathering  such  stores  of  holy  memory,  were  handed 
down  in  their  integrity  from  generation  to  generation  of 
praying  monks,  it  is  no  wonder  that  the  feeling  grew 
that  they  too  were  inspired  by  the  Holy  Spirit.  The 
legend  long  prevailed  in  the  Middle  Age  that  Gregory 
the  Great  one  night  had  a  vision  in  which  the  Church 
appeared  to  him  in  the  form  of  an  angel,  magnificently 
attired,  upon  whose  mantle  was  written  the  whole  art  of 
music,  with  all  the  forms  of  its  melodies  and  notes. 
The  pope  prayed  God  to  give  him  the  power  of  recollect- 
ing all  that  he  saw ;  and  after  he  awoke  a  dove  appeared, 
who  dictated  to  him  the  chants  which  are  ascribed  to 
him .2  Ambros  quotes  a  mediaeval  Latin  chronicler, 
Aurelian  Reomensis,  who  relates  that  a  blind  man 
named  Victor,  sitting  one  day  before  an  altar  in  the  Pan- 
theon at  Rome,  by  direct  divine  inspiration  composed  the 
response  Gaude  Maria,  and  by  a  second  miracle  imme- 
diately received  his  sight.  Another  story  from  the  same 
source  tells  how  a  monk  of  the  convent  of  St.  Victor, 
while  upon  a  neighboring  mountain,  heard  angels  sing- 
ing the  response  Gives  Apostolorum,  and  after  his  return 
to  Rome  he  taught  the  song  to  his  brethren  as  he  had 
heard  it.^ 

1  Montalembert,  The  Monks  of  the  West,  vol.  ii. 

2  Ibid. 

'  Ambros,  Geschichte  der  Musik,  vol.  ii. 

124 


THE   CATHOLIC  RITUAL   CHANT 

In  order  to  explain  the  feeling  toward  the  liturgic 
chant  which  is  indicated  by  these  legends  and  the  rap- 
turous eulogies  of  mediaeval  and  modern  writers,  we  have 
only  to  remember  that  the  melody  was  never  separated 
in  thought  from  the  words,  that  these  words  were  prayer 
and  praise,  made  especially  acceptable  to  God  because 
wafted  to  him  by  means  of  his  own  gift  of  music.  To 
the  mediaeval  monks  prayer  was  the  highest  exercise  in 
which  man  can  engage,  the  most  efficacious  of  all  actions, 
the  chief  human  agency  in  the  salvation  of  the  world. 
Prayer  was  the  divinely  appointed  business  to  which 
they  were  set  apart.  Hence  arose  the  multiplicity  of 
religious  services  in  the  convents,  the  observance  of  the 
seven  daily  hours  of  prayer,  in  some  monasteries  in 
France,  as  earlier  in  Syria  and  Egypt,  extending  to  the 
so-called  laus  perennis,  in  which  companies  of  brethren, 
relieving  each  other  at  stated  watches,  maintained,  Uke 
the  sacred  fire  of  Vesta,  an  unbroken  office  of  song  by 
night  and  day. 

Such  was  the  liturgic  chant  in  the  ages  of  faith, 
before  the  invention  of  counterpoint  and  the  first  steps 
in  modern  musical  science  suggested  new  conceptions 
and  methods  in  worship  music.  It  constitutes  to-day  a 
unique  and  precious  heritage  from  an  era  wliich,  in  its 
very  ignorance,  superstition,  barbarism  of  manners,  and 
ruthlessness  of  political  ambition,  furnislies  strongest 
evidence  of  the  divine  origin  of  a  faith  wliich  could 
triumph  over  such  antagonisms.  To  the  devout  Catholic 
the  chant  has  a  sanctity  which  transcends  even  its 
aesthetic  and  liistoric  value,  but  non-Catholic  as  well  as 
Catholic  may  reverence  it  as  a  direct  creation  and  a 

i25 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

token  of  a  mode  of  thought  which,  as  at  no  epoch  since, 
conceived  prayer  and  praise  as  a  Christian's  most  urgent 
duty,  and  as  an  infallible  means  of  gaining  the  favor  of 
God. 

The  Catholic  liturgic  chant,  like  all  other  monumental 
forms  of  art,  has  often  suffered  through  the  vicissitudes 
of  taste  which  have  beguiled  even  those  whose  official 
responsibilities  would  seem  to  constitute  them  the  special 
custodians  of  this  sacred  treasure.  Even  to-day  there 
are  many  clergymen  and  church  musicians  who  have  but 
a  faint  conception  of  the  affluence  of  lovely  melody  and 
profound  religious  expression  contained  in  this  vast  body 
of  mediaeval  music.  Where  purely  aesthetic  considera- 
tions have  for  a  time  prevailed,  as  they  often  will  even 
in  a  Church  in  which  tradition  and  symbolism  exert  so 
strong  an  influence  as  they  do  in  the  Catholic,  this 
archaic  form  of  melody  has  been  neglected.  Like  all  the 
older  types  (the  sixteenth  century  a  capella  chorus  and 
the  German  rhythmic  choral,  for  example)  its  austere 
speech  has  not  been  able  to  prevail  against  the  fasci- 
nations of  the  modern  brilliant  and  emotional  style  of 
church  music  which  has  emanated  from  instrumental  art 
and  the  Italian  aria.  Under  this  latter  influence,  and 
the  survival  of  the  seventeenth-century  contempt  for 
everything  mediaeval  and  "  Gothic,"  the  chant  was  long 
looked  upon  with  disdain  as  the  offspring  of  a  barbarous 
age,  and  only  maintained  at  all  out  of  unwilling  defer- 
ence to  ecclesiastical  authority.  In  the  last  few  decades, 
however,  probably  as  a  detail  of  the  reawakening  in  all 
departments  of  a  study  of  the  great  works  of  older  art, 
there  has  appeared  a  reaction  in  favor  of  a  renewed  cul- 

126 


THE   CATHOLIC  RITUAL   CHANT 

ture  of  the  Gregorian  chant.  The  tendency  toward 
sensationalism  in  church  music  has  now  begun  to  sub- 
side. The  true  ideal  is  seen  to  be  in  the  past.  Together 
with  the  new  appreciation  of  Palestrina,  Bach,  and 
the  older  Anglican  Church  composers,  the  Catholic 
chant  is  coming  to  its  rights,  and  an  enlightened  modern 
taste  is  beginning  to  realize  the  melodious  beauty,  the 
liturgic  appropriateness,  and  the  edifying  power  that  lie 
in  the  ancient  unison  song.  This  movement  is  even  now 
only  in  its  inception ;  in  the  majority  of  church  centres 
there  is  still  apathy,  and  in  consequence  corruption  of 
the  old  forms,  crudity  and  coldness  in  execution.  Much 
has,  however,  been  already  achieved,  and  in  the  patient 
and  acute  scholarship  applied  in  the  field  of  textual 
criticism  by  the  monks  of  Solesmes  and  the  church 
musicians  of  Paris,  Brussels,  and  Regensburg,  in  the  en- 
thusiastic zeal  shown  in  many  churches  and  seminaries 
of  Europe  and  America  for  the  attainment  of  a  pure  and 
expressive  style  of  delivery,  and  in  the  restoration  of  the 
Plain  Song  to  portions  of  the  ritual  from  which  it  has 
long  been  banished,  we  see  evidences  of  a  movement 
which  promises  to  be  fruitful,  not  only  in  this  special 
sphere,  but  also,  as  a  direct  consequence,  in  other  domains 
of  church  music  which  have  been  too  long  neglected. 

The  historic  status  of  the  Gregorian  chant  as  the 
basis  of  the  magnificent  structure  of  Catholic  church 
music  down  to  1600,  of  the  Anglican  chant,  and  to  a 
large  extent  of  the  German  people's  hymn-tune  or 
choral,  has  always  been  known  to  scliolars.  The  revived 
study  of  it  has  come  from  an  awakened  perception  of  its 
liturgic    significance    and   its   inherent    beauty.      The 

127 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

influence  drawn  from  its  peculiarly  solemn  and  elevated 
quality  has  begun  to  penetrate  the  chorus  work  of  the 
best  Catholic  composers  of  the  recent  time.  Protestant 
church  musicians  are  also  beginning  to  find  advantage 
in  the  study  of  the  melody,  the  rhythm,  the  expression, 
and  even  the  tonality  of  the  Gregorian  song.  And 
every  lover  of  church  music  will  find  a  new  pleasure 
and  uplift  in  listening  to  its  noble  strains.  He  must, 
however,  listen  sympathetically,  expelling  from  his  mind 
all  comparison  with  the  modern  styles  to  which  he  is 
accustomed,  holding  in  clear  view  its  historic  relations 
and  liturgic  function.  To  one  who  so  attunes  his  mind 
to  its  peculiar  spirit  and  purport,  the  Gregorian  Plain 
Song  will  seem  worthy  of  the  exalted  place  it  holds  in 
the  veneration  of  the  most  august  ecclesiastical  institu- 
tion in  history. 


ia» 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  DEVELOPMENT  OP  MEDIEVAL  CHORUS  MUSIC 

It  has  already  been  noted  that  the  music  of  the 
Catholic  Church  has  passed  through  three  typical  phases 
or  styles,  each  complete  in  itself,  bounded  by  clearly 
marked  lines,  corresponding  quite  closely  in  respect  to 
time  divisions  with  the  three  major  epochs  into  which 
the  histoiy  of  the  Western  Church  may  be  divided. 
These  phases  or  schools  of  ecclesiastical  song  are  so  far 
from  being  mutually  exclusive  that  both  the  first  and 
second  persisted  after  the  introduction  of  the  third,  so 
that  at  the  present  day  at  least  two  of  the  three  forms 
are  in  use  in  almost  every  Catholic  congregation,  the 
Gregorian  chant  being  employed  in  the  song  of  the 
priest  and  in  the  antiphonal  psalms  and  responses,  and 
either  the  second  or  third  form  being  adopted  in  the 
remaining  offices.^ 

Since  harmony  was  unknown  during  the  first  one 
thousand  years  or  more  of  the  Christian  era,  and  instru- 
mental music  had  no  independent  existence,  the  whole 
vast  system  of  chant  melodies  was  purely  unison  and 
unaccompanied,  its  rhythm  usually  subordinated  to  that 
of  the   text.     Melody,  unsupported  by  harmony,  soon 

1  The  offices,  chiefly  conventual,  in   which  the  chant   is  employed 
throughout  are  exceptions  to  the  general  rule. 
i  129 


MUSIC  IN   THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

runs  its  course,  and  if  no  new  principle  had  been  added 
to  this  antique  melodic  method,  European  music  would 
have  become  petrified  or  else  have  gone  on  copying  itself 
indefinitely.  But  about  the  eleventh  century  a  new 
conception  made  its  appearance,  in  which  lay  the  assur- 
ance of  the  whole  magnificent  art  of  modern  music. 
This  new  principle  was  that  of  harmony,  the  combina- 
tion of  two  or  more  simultaneous  and  mutually  depen- 
dent parts.  The  importance  of  this  discovery  needs  no 
emphasis.  It  not  only  introduced  an  artistic  agency 
that  is  practically  unlimited  in  scope  and  variety,  but  it 
made  music  for  the  first  time  a  free  art,  with  its  laws  of 
rhythm  and  structure  no  longer  identical  with  those  of 
language,  but  drawn  from  the  powers  that  lie  inherent 
in  its  own  nature.  Out  of  the  impulse  to  combine  two 
or  more  parts  together  in  complete  freedom  from  the 
constraints  of  verbal  accent  and  prosody  sprang  the 
second  great  school  of  church  music,  which,  hkevrise 
independent  of  instrumental  accompaniment,  developed 
along  purely  vocal  lines,  and  issued  in  the  contrapuntal 
chorus  music  which  attained  its  maturity  in  the  last  half 
of  the  sixteenth  century. 

This  mediaeval  school  of  a  capella  polyphonic  music 
is  in  many  respects  more  attractive  to  the  student  of 
ecclesiastical  art  than  even  the  far  more  elaborate  and 
brilliant  style  which  prevails  to-day.  Modern  church 
music,  by  virtue  of  its  variety,  splendor,  and  dramatic 
pathos,  seems  to  be  tinged  with  the  hues  of  earthliness 
which  belie  the  strictest  conception  of  ecclesiastical  art. 
It  partakes  of  the  doubt  and  turmoil  of  a  skeptical 
and  rebellious  age,  it  is  the  music  of  impassioned  longing 

180 


MEDIEVAL   CHORUS  MUSIC 

in  which  are  mingled  echoes  of  worldly  allurements, 
it  is  not  the  chastened  tone  of  pious  assurance  and  self- 
abnegation.  The  choral  song  developed  in  the  ages  of 
faith  is  pervaded  by  the  accents  of  that  calm  ecstasy 
of  trust  and  celestial  anticipation  which  give  to  mediaeval 
art  that  exquisite  charm  of  naivete^  and  sincerity  never 
again  to  be  realized  through  the  same  medium,  because 
it  is  the  unconscious  expression  of  an  unquestioning 
simplicity  of  conviction  which  seems  to  have  passed 
away  forever  from  the  higher  manifestations  of  the 
human  creative  intellect. 

Such  pathetic  suggestion  clings  to  the  religious  music 
of  the  Middle  Age  no  less  palpably  than  to  the  sculpture, 
painting,  and  hymnody  of  the  same  era,  and  combines 
with  its  singular  artistic  perfection  and  loftiness  of  tone 
to  render  it  perhaps  the  most  typical  and  lovely  of  all 
the  forms  of  Catholic  art.  And  yet  to  the  generality  of 
students  of  church  and  art  history  it  is  of  all  the  products 
of  the  Middle  Age  the  least  familiar.  Any  intellectual 
man  whom  we  might  select  would  call  himself  but 
scantily  educated  if  he  had  no  acquaintance  with  me- 
diaeval architecture  and  plastic  art ;  yet  he  would  prob- 
ably not  feel  at  all  ashamed  to  confess  total  ignorance  of 
that  vast  store  of  liturgic  music  which  in  the  fifteenth 
and  sixteenth  centuries  filled  the  incense-laden  air  of 
those  very  cathedrals  and  chapels  in  which  his  reverent 
feet  so  love  to  wander.  The  miracles  of  mediaeval  archi- 
tecture, the  achievements  of  the  Gothic  sculptors  and 
the  religious  painters  of  Florence,  Cologne,  and  Flanders 
are  familiar  to  him,  but  the  musical  craftsmen  of  the 
Low  Countries,  Paris,  Rome,  and  Venice,  who  clothed 

131 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

every  prayer,  hymn,  and  Scripture  lesson  with  strains  of 
unique  beauty  and  tenderness,  are  only  names,  if  indeed 
their  names  are  known  to  him  at  all.  Yet  in  sheer  bulk 
their  works  would  doubtless  be  found  to  equtil  the  whole 
amount  of  the  music  of  ever}^  kind  that  has  been  written 
in  the  three  centuries  following  their  era ;  while  in 
technical  mastery  and  adaptation  to  its  special  end  this 
school  is  not  unworthy  of  comparison  with  the  more 
brilliant  and  versatile  art  of  the  present  day. 

The  period  from  the  twelfth  century  to  the  close  of 
the  sixteenth  was  one  of  extraordinary  musical  activity. 
The  thousands  of  cathedrals,  chapels,  parish  churches, 
and  convents  were  unceasing  in  their  demands  for  new 
settings  of  the  Mass  and  offices.  Until  the  art  of  print- 
ing was  applied  to  musical  notes  about  the  year  1500, 
followed  by  the  foundation  of  musical  publishing  houses, 
there  was  but  little  duplication  or  exchange  of  musical 
compositions,  and  thus  every  important  ecclesiastical 
establishment  must  be  provided  with  its  own  corps  of 
composers  and  copyists.  The  religious  enthusiasm  and 
the  vigorous  intellectual  activity  of  the  Middle  Age 
found  as  free  a  channel  of  discharge  in  song  as  in  any 
other  means  of  embellishment  of  the  church  ceremonial. 
These  conditions,  together  with  the  absence  of  an  oper- 
atic stage,  a  concert  system,  or  a  musical  public,  turned 
the  fertile  musical  impulses  of  the  period  to  the  benefit 
of  the  Cliurch.  The  ecclesiastical  musicians  also  set  to 
music  vast  numbers  of  madrigals,  chansons,  villanellas, 
and  the  like,  for  the  entertainment  of  aristocratic  pa- 
trons, but  this  was  only  an  incidental  deflection  from 
their  more  serious  duties  as  ritual  composers.     In  qual- 

132 


MEDIEVAL    CHORUS  MUSIC 

ity  as  well  as  quantity  the  medigeval  chorus  music  was 
not  unworthy  of  comparison  with  the  architectural, 
sculptural,  pictorial,  and  textile  products  which  were 
created  in  the  same  epoch  and  under  the  same  auspices. 
The  world  has  never  witnessed  a  more  absorbed  devotion 
to  a  single  artistic  idea,  neither  has  there  existed  since 
the  golden  age  of  Greek  sculpture  another  art  form  so 
lofty  in  expression  and  so  perfect  in  workmanship  as  the 
polyphonic  church  chorus  in  the  years  of  its  maturity. 
That  style  of  musical  art  which  was  brought  to  fruition 
by  such  men  as  Josquin  des  Pr^s,  Orlandus  Lassus, 
Willaert,  Palestrina,  Vittoria,  the  Anerios,  the  Gabrielis, 
and  Lotti  is  not  unworthy  to  be  compared  with  the  Gothic 
cathedrals  in  whose  epoch  it  arose  and  with  the  later  tri- 
umphs of  Renaissance  painting  with  which  it  culminated. 
Of  this  remarkable  achievement  of  genius  the  edu- 
cated man  above  mentioned  knows  little  or  nothing. 
How  is  it  possible,  he  might  ask,  that  a  school  of  art  so 
opulent  in  results,  capable  of  arousing  so  much  admira- 
tion among  the  initiated,  could  have  dominated  all 
Europe  for  five  such  brilliant  centuries,  and  yet  have 
left  so  little  impress  upon  the  consciousness  of  the  mod- 
ern world,  if  it  really  possessed  the  high  artistic  merits 
that  are  claimed  for  it?  The  answer  is  not  difficult. 
For  the  world  at  large  music  exists  only  as  it  is  per- 
formed, and  the  difficulty  and  expense  of  musical  per- 
formance insure,  as  a  general  rule,  the  neglect  of  compo- 
sitions that  do  not  arouse  a  public  demand.  Church 
music  is  less  susceptible  than  secular  to  the  tyranny  of 
fashion,  but  even  in  this  department  changing  tastes  and 
the   politic   compromising   spirit  tend  to  pay  court  to 

133 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

novelty  and  to  neglect  the  antiquated.  The  revolution 
in  musical  taste  and  practice  which  occurred  early  in  the 
seventeenth  century  —  a  revolution  so  complete  that  it 
metamorphosed  the  whole  conception  of  the  nature  and 
purpose  of  music  —  swept  all  musical  production  off 
into  new  directions,  and  the  complex  austere  art  of  the 
mediaeval  Church  was  forgotten  under  the  fascination  of 
the  new  Italian  melody  and  the  vivid  rhythm  and  tone- 
color  of  the  orchestra.  Since  then  the  tide  of  invention 
has  never  paused  long  enough  to  enable  the  world  at 
large  to  turn  its  thought  to  the  forsaken  treasures  of  the 
past.  Moreover,  only  a  comparatively  minute  part  of 
this  multitude  of  old  works  has  ever  been  printed,  much 
of  it  has  been  lost,  the  greater  portion  lies  buried  in  the 
dust  of  libraries  ;  whatever  is  accessible  must  be  released 
from  an  abstruse  and  obsolete  system  of  notation,  and 
the  methods  of  performance,  which  conditioned  a  large 
measure  of  its  effect,  must  be  restored  under  the  uncer- 
tain guidance  of  tradition.  The  usages  of  chorus  singing 
in  the  present  era  do  not  prepare  singers  to  cope  with 
the  pecTiliar  difficulties  of  the  a  capella  style  ;  a  special 
education  and  an  unwonted  mode  of  feeling  are  required 
for  an  appreciation  of  its  appropriateness  and  beauty. 
Nevertheless,  such  is  its  inherent  vitality,  so  magical  is 
its  attraction  to  one  who  has  come  into  complete  har- 
mony with  its  spirit,  so  true  is  it  as  an  exponent  of  the 
mystical  submissive  type  of  piety  which  always  tends  to 
reassert  itself  in  a  rationalistic  age  like  the  present,  that 
the  minds  of  churchmen  are  gradually  returning  to  it, 
and  scholars  and  musical  directors  are  tempting  it  forth 
from  its  seclusion.     Societies  are  founded  for  its  study, 

184 


MEDIEVAL   CHORUS  MUSIC 

choirs  in  some  of  the  most  influential  church  centres  are 
adding  mediaeval  works  to  their  repertories,  journals  and 
schools  are  laboring  in  its  interest,  and  its  influence  is 
insinuating  itself  into  the  modern  mass  and  anthem, 
lending  to  the  modern  forms  a  more  elevated  and  spirit- 
ual quality.  Little  by  little  the  world  of  culture  is 
becoming  enlightened  in  respect  to  the  unique  beauty 
and  refinement  of  this  form  of  art ;  and  the  more  intelli- 
gent study  of  the  Middle  Age,  which  has  now  taken  the 
place  of  the  former  prejudiced  misinterpretation,  is  form- 
ing an  attitude  of  mind  that  is  capable  of  a  sympathetic 
response  to  this  most  exquisite  and  characteristic  of  all 
the  products  of  mediaeval  genius. 

In  order  to  seize  the  full  significance  of  this  school  of 
Catholic  music  in  its  mature  stage  in  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, it  will  be  necessary  to  trace  its  origin  and  growth. 
The  constructive  criticism  of  the  present  day  rests  on  the 
principle  that  we  cannot  comprehend  works  and  schools 
of  art  unless  we  know  their  causes  and  environment. 
We  shall  find  as  we  examine  the  history  of  mediaeval 
choral  song,  that  it  arose  in  response  to  an  instinctive 
demand  for  a  more  expansive  form  of  music  than  the 
unison  chant.  Liturgic  necessities  can  in  no  wise 
account  for  the  invention  of  part  singing,  for  even  to- 
day the  Gregorian  Plain  Song  remains  the  one  oSicially 
recognized  form  of  ritual  music  in  the  Catholic  Church. 
It  was  an  unconscious  impulse,  prophesying  a  richer 
musical  expression  which  could  not  at  once  be  realized, 
—  a  blind  revolt  of  the  European  mind  against  bondage 
to  an  antique  and  restrictive  form  of  expression.  For 
the  Gregorian  chant  by  its  very  nature  as  unaccompanied 

135 


MUSIC  IN   THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

melody,  rhythmically  controlled  by  prose  accent  and 
measure,  was  incapable  of  further  development,  and  it 
was  impossible  that  music  should  remain  at  a  standstill 
wliile  all  the  other  arts  were  undergoing  the  pains  of 
growth.  The  movement  which  elicited  the  art  of  choral 
song  from  the  latent  powers  of  the  liturgic  chant  was 
identical  with  the  tendency  which  evolved  Gothic  and 
Renaissance  architecture,  sculpture,  and  painting  out  of 
Roman  and  Byzantine  art.  Melody  unsupported  soon 
runs  its  course ;  harmony,  music  in  parts,  with  contrast 
of  consonance  and  dissonance,  dynamics,  and  light  and 
shade,  must  supplement  melody,  adding  more  opulent 
resources  to  the  simple  charm  of  tone  and  rhythm.  The 
science  of  harmony,  at  least  in  the  modern  sense,  was 
unknown  in  antiquity,  and  the  Gregorian  chant  was  but 
the  projection  of  the  antique  usage  into  the  modern 
world.  The  history  of  modern  European  music,  there- 
fore, begins  with  the  first  authentic  instances  of  sing- 
ing in  two  or  more  semi-independent  parts,  these  parts 
being  subjected  to  a  definite  proportional  notation. 

A  century  or  so  before  the  science  of  part  writing  had 
taken  root  in  musical  practice,  a  strange  barbaric  form 
of  music  meets  our  eyes.  A  manuscript  of  the  tenth 
century,  formerly  ascribed  to  Hucbald  of  St.  Armand, 
who  lived,  however,  a  century  earlier,  gives  the  first  dis- 
tinct account,  with  rules  for  performance,  of  a  diver- 
gence from  the  custom  of  unison  singing,  by  which  the 
voices  of  the  choir,  instead  of  all  singing  the  same  notes, 
move  along  together  separated  by  octaves  and  fourths 
or  octaves  and  fifths  ;  or  else  a  second  voice  accompanies 
the  first  by  a  movement  sometimes   direct,  sometimes 

136 


MEDIEVAL   CHORUS  MUSIC 

oblique,  and  sometimes  contrary.  The  author  of  this 
manuscript  makes  no  claim  to  the  invention  of  this 
manner  of  singing,  but  alludes  to  it  as  something  already 
well  known.  Much  speculation  has  been  expended 
upon  the  question  of  the  origin  and  purpose  of  the  first 
form  of  this  barbarous  organum  or  diaphony,  as  it  was 
called.  Some  conjecture  that  it  was  suggested  by  the 
sound  of  the  ancient  Keltic  stringed  instrument  crowth 
or  crotta,  which  was  tuned  in  fifths  and  had  a  flat 
finger-board ;  others  find  in  it  an  imitation  of  the  early 
organ  with  its  several  rows  of  pipes  sounding  fifths 
like  a  modern  mixture  stop ;  while  others  suppose, 
with  some  reason,  that  it  was  a  survival  of  a  fashion 
practised  among  the  Greeks  and  Romans.  The  impor- 
tance of  the  organum  in  music  history  has,  however, 
been  greatly  overrated,  for  properly  speaking  it  was  not 
harmony  or  part  singing  at  all,  but  only  another  kind  of 
unison.  Even  the  second  form  of  organum  was  but 
little  nearer  the  final  goal,  for  the  attendant  note  series 
was  not  free  enough  to  be  called  an  organic  element  in 
a  harmonic  structure.  As  soon,  however,  as  the  accom- 
panying part  was  allowed  ever  so  little  unconstrained 
life  of  its  own,  the  first  steps  in  genuine  part  writing  were 
taken,  and  a  new  epoch  in  musical  history  had  begun. 

Example  of  Organum  or  Diaphony,  First  Species. 


137 


MUSIC  IN  THE   WESTERN  CHURCH 


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The  freer  and  more  promising  style  which  issued  from 
the  treadmill  of  the  organum  was  called  in  its  initial 
stages  discant  (Lat.  discantus},  and  was  at  first  wholly 
confined  to  an  irregular  mixture  of  octaves,  unisons, 
fifths  and  fourths,  with  an  occasional  third  as  a  sort  of 
concession  to  the  criticism  of  the  natural  ear  upon 
antique  theory.  At  first  two  parts  only  were  employed. 
Occasional  successions  of  parallel  fifths  and  fourths,  the 
heritage  of  the  organum,  long  survived,  but  they  were 
gradually  eliminated  as  hollow  and  unsatisfying,  and  the 
principle  of  contrary  motion,  which  is  the  very  soul  of 
all  modern  harmony  and  counterpoint,  was  slowly  estab- 
lished. It  must  be  borne  in  mind,  as  the  clue  to  all 
mediseval  music,  that  the  practice  of  tone  combination 
involved  no  idea  whatever  of  chords,  as  modern  theory 
conceives  them.    The  characteristic  principle  of  the  vastly 

138 


MEDIEVAL   CHORUS  MUSIC 

preponderating  portion  of  the  music  of  'the  last  three 
centuries  is  harmony,  technically  so  called,  i.  e.,  chords, 
solid  or  distributed,  out  of  which  melody  is  primarily 
evolved.  Homophony,  monody  —  one  part  sustaining 
the  tune  while  all  others  serve  as  the  support  and,  so  to 
speak,  the  coloring  material  also  —  is  now  the  ruling 
postulate.  The  chorus  music  of  Europe  down  to  the 
seventeenth  century  was,  on  the  other  hand,  based  on 
melody;  the  composer  never  thought  of  his  combination 
as  chords,  but  worked,  we  might  say,  horizontally,  weav- 
ing together  several  semi-independent  melodies  into  a 
flexible  and  accordant  tissue.^ 

The  transition  from  organum  to  discant  was  effected 
about  the  year  1100.  There  was  for  a  time  no  thought 
of  the  invention  of  the  component  melodies.  Not  only 
the  cantus  firmus  (the  principal  theme),  but  also  the 
counterpoint  (the  melodic  "  running  mate  "),  was  bor- 
rowed, the  second  factor  being  frequently  a  folk-tune 
altered  to  fit  the  chant  melody,  according  to  the  simple 
laws  of  euphony  then  admitted.  In  respect  to  the  words 
the  discant  may  be  divided  into  two  classes  :  the  words 
might  be  the  same  in  both  parts ;  or  one  voice  would  sing 
the  text  of  the  office  of  the  Church,  and  the  other  the 
words  of  the  secular  song  from  which  the  accompanying 
tune  was  taken.  In  the  twelfth  century  the  monkish 
musicians,  stirred  to  bolder  flights  by  the  satisfactory 
results  of  their  two-part  discant,  essayed  three  parts,  with 

1  This  distinction  betweeu  harmony  and  counterpoint  is  fundamental, 
but  no  space  can  be  given  here  to  its  further  elucidation.  The  point  will 
easily  be  made  clear  by  comparing  an  ordinary  modern  hymn  tune  with 
the  first  section  of  a  fugue. 

139 


MUSIC  IN  THE   WESTERN  CHURCH 

results  at  first  childishly  awkward,  but  with  growing 
ease  and  smoothness.     Free  invention  of  the  accompany- 


EXAMPLE   OF   DiSCANT    IN   ThREE   PaRTS    WITH    DiFFEKENT 

Words  (Twelfth  Century). 

From  Coussemaker,  Histoire  de  Vharmonie  au  moyen  age.    Translated 
into  modern  notation. 


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140 


MEDIAEVAL    CHORUS  MUSIC 


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ing  parts  took  the  place  of  the  custom  of  borrowing 
the  entire  melodic  framework,  for  while  two  borrowed 
themes  might  fit  each  other,  it  was  practically  impossible 
to  find  three  that  would  do  so  without  almost  complete 
alteration.  As  a  scientific  method  of  ^vl•iting  developed, 
with  the  combination  of  parallel  and  contrary  motion, 
the  term  discant  gave  way  to  counterpoint  (Lat.  jowwciws 
contra  punctum').  But  there  was  never  any  thought  of 
inventing  tlie  cantus  firmus  ;  this  was  invariably  taken 
from  a  ritual  book  or  a  popular  tune,  and  the  whole  art 
of  composition  consisted  in  fabricating  melodic  figures 
that  would  unite  with  it  in  an  agreeable  synthesis. 
These  contrapuntal  devices,  at  first  simple  and  often 
harsh,  under  tlie  inevitable  law  of  evolution  became 
more  free  and  mellifluous  at  the  same  time  tliat  they 
became  more  complex.  The  primitive  discant  was  one 
note  against  one  note  ;  later  the  accompanying  part  was 
allowed  to  sing  several  notes  against  one  of  the  canUis 
firmus.  Another  early  form  consisted  of  notes  inter- 
rupted by  rests.  In  the  twelfth  century  such  progress 
had  been  made  that  thirds  and  sixths  were  abundantly 
admitted,  dissonant  interval«  "'ere  made  to  resolve  upon 

141 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

consonances,  consecutive  fifths  were  avoided,  passing 
notes  and  embellishments  were  used  in  the  accompany- 
ing voices,  and  the  beginnings  of  double  counterpoint 
and  imitation  appeared.  Little  advance  was  made  in  the 
thirteenth  century ;  music  was  still  chiefly  a  matter  of 
scholastic  theory,  a  mechanical  handicraft.  Considerable 
dexterity  had  been  attained  in  the  handling  of  three 
simultaneous,  independent  parts.  Contrary  and  parallel 
motion  alternating  for  variety's  sake,  contrast  of  con- 
sonance and  dissonance,  a  system  of  notation  by  which 
time  values  as  well  as  differences  of  pitch  could  be  indi- 
cated, together  with  a  recognition  of  the  importance  of 
rhythm  as  an  ingredient  in  musical  effect,  —  all  this 
foreshadowed  the  time  when  the  material  of  tonal  art 
would  be  plastic  in  the  composer's  hand,  and  he  would 
be  able  to  mould  it  into  forms  of  fluent  grace,  pregnant 
with  meaning.  This  final  goal  was  still  far  away;  the 
dull,  plodding  round  of  apprenticeship  must  go  on 
through  the  fourteenth  century  also,  and  the  whole 
conscious  aim  of  effort  must  be  directed  to  the  in- 
vention of  scientific  combinations  which  might  ulti- 
mately  provide  a  vehicle  for  the  freer  action  of  the 
imagination. 

The  period  from  the  eleventh  to  the  fifteenth  centu- 
ries was,  therefore,  not  one  of  expressive  art  work,  but 
rather  of  slow  and  arduous  experiment.  The  problem 
was  so  to  adjust  the  semi-independent  melodious  parts 
that  an  unimpeded  life  might  be  preserved  in  all  the 
voices,  and  yet  tlie  combined  effect  be  at  any  instant 
pure  and  beautiful.  The  larger  the  number  of  parts,  the 
greater  the  skill  required  to  weave  them  together  into  a 

142 


MEDIAEVAL   CHORUS  MUSIC 

varied,  rich,  and  euphonious  pattern.  Any  one  of  these 
parts  might  for  the  moment  hold  the  place  of  the  lead- 
ing part  which  the  others  were  constrained  to  follow 
through  the  mazes  of  the  design.  Hence  the  term  poly- 
phonic, t.  e.,  many-voiced.  Although  each  voice  part 
was  as  important  as  any  other  in  this  living  musical 
texture,  yet  each  section  took  its  cue  from  a  single  mel- 
ody —  a  fragment  of  a  Gregorian  chant  or  a  folk-tune 
and  called  the  cantus  Jirmus,  and  also  known  as  the 
tenor,  from  teneo,  to  hold  —  and  the  voice  that  gave  out 
this  melody  came  to  be  called  the  tenor  voice.  In  the 
later  phases  of  this  art  the  first  utterance  of  the  theme 
was  assigned  indifferently  to  any  one  of  the  voice  parts. 

After  confidence  had  been  gained  in  devising  two  or 
more  parts  to  be  sung  simulttineously,  the  next  step  was 
to  bring  in  one  part  after  another.  Some  method  of  secur- 
ing unity  amid  variety  was  now  necessary,  and  this  was 
found  in  the  contrivance  known  as  "  imitation,"  by  which 
one  voice  follows  another  through  the  same  or  approxi- 
mate intervals,  the  part  first  sounded  acting  as  a  model  for 
a  short  distance,  then  perhaps  another  taking  up  the 
leadership  with  a  new  melodic  figure,  the  intricate  net- 
work of  parts  thus  revealing  itself  as  a  coherent  organism 
rather  tlian  a  fortuitous  conjunction  of  notes,  the  com- 
poser's invention  and  the  hearers'  impression  controlled 
by  a  conscious  plan  to  whicli  each  melodic  part  is 
tributary. 

When  a  number  of  parts  came  to  be  used  together, 
the  need  of  fixing  the  pitcli  and  lengtli  of  notes  with 
precision  became  imperative.  So  out  of  the  antique 
mnemonic  signs,  which  had  done  useful  service  during 

143 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

the  exclusive  regime  of  the  unison  chant,  there  was 
gradually  developed  a  system  of  square-headed  notes, 
together  with  a  staff  of  lines  and  spaces.  But  instead 
of  simplicity  a  bewildering  complexity  reigned  for  cen- 
turies. Many  clefs  were  used,  shifting  their  place  on 
the  staff  in  order  to  keep  the  notes  within  the  lines  ; 
subtleties,  many  and  deep,  were  introduced,  and  the 
matter  of  rhythm,  key  relations,  contrapuntal  structure, 
and  method  of  singing  became  a  thing  abstruse  and  re- 
condite. Composition  was  more  like  algebraic  calcula- 
tion than  free  art ;  symbolisms  of  trinity  and  unity,  of 
perfect  and  imperfect,  were  entangled  in  the  notation,  to 
the  delight  of  the  ingenious  monkish  intellect  and  the 
despair  of  the  neophyte  and  the  modern  student  of  medi- 
aeval manuscripts.  Progress  was  slowest  at  the  begin- 
ning. It  seemed  an  interminable  task  to  learn  to  put  a 
number  of  parts  together  with  any  degree  of  ease,  and 
for  many  generations  after  it  was  first  attempted  the 
results  were  harsh  and  uncouth. 

Even  taking  into  account  the  obstacles  to  rapid  de- 
velopment which  exist  in  the  very  nature  of  music  as 
the  most  abstract  of  the  arts,  it  seems  difficult  to  under- 
stand why  it  should  have  been  so  long  in  acquiring 
beauty  and  expression.  There  was  a  shorter  way  to 
both,  but  the  church  musicians  would  not  take  it.  All 
around  them  bloomed  a  rich  verdure  of  graceful  expres- 
sive melody  in  the  song  and  instrumental  play  of  the 
common  people.  But  the  monkish  musicians  and  chor- 
isters scorned  to  follow  the  lead  of  anything  so  artless 
and  obvious.  In  a  scholastic  age  they  were  musical 
scholastics ;  subtilty  and  fine  pedantic  distinctions  were 

144 


MEDIEVAL   CHORUS  MUSIC 

their  pride.  They  had  become  infatuated  with  the  for- 
mal and  technical,  and  they  seemed  indifferent  to  the 
claims  of  the  natural  and  simple  while  carried  away  by 
a  passion  for  intricate  structural  problems. 

The  growth  of  such  an  art  as  this,  without  models, 
must  necessarily  be  painfully  slow.  Many  of  the  clois- 
tered experimenters  passed  their  lives  in  nursing  an  infant 
art  without  seeing  enough  progress  to  justify  any  very 
strong  faith  in  the  bantling's  future.  Their  floundering 
helplessness  is  often  pathetic,  but  not  enough  so  to  over- 
come a  smile  at  the  futility  of  their  devices.  Practice  and 
theory  did  not  always  work  amiably  together.  In  study- 
ing the  chorus  music  of  the  Middle  Age,  we  must  observe 
that,  as  in  the  case  of  the  liturgic  chant,  the  singers  did 
not  deem  it  necessary  to  confine  themselves  to  the 
notes  actually  written.  In  this  formative  period  of 
which  we  are  speaking  it  was  the  privilege  of  the 
singers  to  vary  and  decorate  the  written  plirases  accoid- 
ing  to  their  good  pleasure.  These  adornments  were 
sometimes  carefully  thought  out,  incorporated  into  the 
stated  method  of  delivery,  and  handed  down  as  tradi- 
tions.^ But  it  is  evident  that  in  the  earlier  days  of 
counterpoint  these  variations  were  often  extemporized 
on  the  spur  of  the  moment.  The  result  of  this  habit  on 
the  part  of  singers  who  were  ignorant  of  the  laws  of 
musical  consonance  and  proportion,  and  whose  ears  were 
as  dull  as  their  understixndings,  could  easily  be  conceived 
even  if  we  did  not  have  before  us  the  indignant  testi- 

1  Mendelssohn,  in  his  letter  to  Zelter  descrihinf^  tho  music  of  the  Six- 
tine  Chapel,  is  enthusiastic  over  the  beautiful  effect  of  the  abellimenti  i» 
AllegriV  Miserere. 

)0  145 


MUSIC  IN  THE   WESTERN  CHURCH 

mony  of  many  musicians  and  churchmen  of  the  period. 
Jean  Cotton,  in  the  eleventh  century,  says  that  he  could 
only  compare  the  singers  with  drunken  men,  who  indeed 
find  their  way  home,  but  do  not  know  how  they  get 
there.  The  learned  theorist,  Jean  de  Muris,  of  the 
fourteenth  century,  exclaims :  "  How  can  men  have  the 
face  to  sing  diseant  who  know  nothing  of  the  combina- 
tion of  sounds!  Their  voices  roam  around  the  cantus 
Jirmiis  without  regard  to  any  rule;  they  throw  their 
tones  out  by  luck,  just  as  an  unskilful  thrower  hurls  a 
stone,  hitting  the  mark  once  in  a  hundred  casts."  As 
he  broods  over  the  abuse  his  wrath  increases.  "  O 
roughness,  O  bestiality  I  taking  an  ass  for  a  man,  a  kid 
for  a  lion,  a  sheep  for  a  fish.  They  cannot  tell  a  conso- 
nance from  a  dissonance.  They  are  like  a  blind  man 
trying  to  strike  a  dog."  Another  censor  apostrophizes 
the  singers  thus :  "  Does  such  oxen  bellowing  belong  in 
the  Church  ?  Is  it  believed  that  God  can  be  graciously 
inclined  by  such  an  uproar?"  Oelred,  the  Scottish 
abbot  of  Riverby  in  the  twelfth  century,  rails  at  the 
singers  for  jumbling  the  tones  together  in  every  kind  of 
distortion,  for  imitating  the  whinnying  of  horses,  or 
(worst  of  all  in  his  eyes)  sharpening  their  voices  like 
those  of  women.  He  tells  how  the  singers  bring  in  the 
aid  of  absurd  gestures  to  enhance  the  effect  of  their  pre- 
posterous strains,  swaying  their  bodies,  twisting  their 
lips,  rolling  their  eyes,  and  bending  their  fingers,  with 
each  note.  A  number  of  popes,  notably  John  XXIL, 
tried  to  suppress  these  offences,  but  the  extemporized 
diseant  was  too  fascinating  a  plaything  to  be  dropped, 
and  ridicule  and  pontifical  rebuke  were  alike  powerless. 

146 


MEDIAEVAL   CHORUS  MUSIC 

Such  abuses  were,  of  course,  not  universal,  perhaps 
not  general,  —  as  to  that  we  cannot  tell ;  but  they  illus- 
trate the  chaotic  condition  of  church  music  in  the  three 
or  four  centuries  following  the  first  adoption  of  part 
singing.  The  struggle  for  light  was  persistent,  and 
music,  however  crude  and  halting,  received  abundant 
measure  of  the  reverence  which,  in  the  age  that  saw  the 
building  of  the  Gothic  cathedrals,  was  accorded  to  every- 
thing that  was  identified  with  the  Catholic  religion. 
There  were  no  forms  of  music  that  could  rival  the  song  of 
the  Church,  —  secular  music  at  the  best  was  a  plaything, 
not  an  art.  The  whole  endeavor  of  the  learned  musi- 
cians was  addressed  to  the  enrichment  of  the  church  ser- 
vice, and  the  wealthy  and  powerful  princes  of  France, 
Italy,  Austria,  Spain,  and  England  turned  the  patronage 
of  music  at  their  courts  in  the  same  channel  with  the 
patronage  of  the  Church.  It  was  in  the  princely  chapels 
of  Northern  France  and  the  schools  attached  to  them 
that  the  new  art  of  counterpoint  was  first  cultivated. 
So  far  as  the  line  of  progress  can  be  traced,  the  art  origi- 
nated in  Paris  or  its  vicinity,  and  slowly  spread  over  the 
adjacent  country.  The  home  of  Gothic  architecture  was 
the  home  of  mediaeval  chorus  music,  and  the  date  of  the 
appearance  of  these  two  products  is  the  same.  The 
princes  of  France  and  Flanders  (the  term  France  at  that 
period  meaning  tlie  dominions  of  the  Capetian  dynasty) 
faithfully  guarded  the  interests  of  religious  music,  and  the 
theorists  and  composers  of  this  time  were  officers  of  the 
secular  government  as  well  as  of  the  Church.  We  should 
naturally  suppose  that  church  music  would  be  actively 
supported   by   a   king   so   pious   as   Robert  of    France 

147 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

(eleventh  century),  who  discai*ded  his  well-beloved  wife 
at  the  command  of  Pope  (xregory  V.  because  she  was 
his  second  cousin,  who  held  himself  pure  and  magnani- 
mous in  the  midst  of  a  fierce  and  corrupt  age,  and  who 
composed  many  beautiful  hymns,  including  (as  is  gen- 
erally agreed)  the  exquisite  Sequence,  Veni  Sancte 
Spiritus.  He  was  accustomed  to  lead  the  choir  in  his 
chapel  by  voice  and  gesture.  He  carried  on  all  his  jour- 
neys a  little  prayer  chamber  in  the  form  of  a  tent,  in 
which  he  sang  at  the  stated  daily  hours  to  the  praise  of 
God.  Louis  IX.  also,  worthily  canonized  for  the  holi- 
ness of  his  life,  made  the  cultivation  of  church  song  one 
of  the  most  urgent  of  his  duties.  Every  day  he  heard 
two  Masses,  sometimes  three  or  four.  At  the  canonical 
hours  hymns  and  prayers  were  chanted  by  his  chapel 
choir,  and  even  on  his  crusades  his  choristers  went 
before  him  on  tlie  march,  singing  the  office  for  the  day, 
and  the  king,  a  priest  by  his  side,  sang  in  a  low  voice 
after  them.  Rulers  of  a  precisely  opposite  character, 
the  craftiest  and  most  violent  in  a  guileful  and  brutal 
age,  were  zealous  patrons  of  church  music.  Even  dur- 
ing that  era  of  slaughter  and  misery  when  the  French 
kingship  was  striding  to  supremacy  over  the  bodies  of 
the  great  vassals,  and  struggling  with  England  for  very 
existence  in  the  One  Hundred  Years'  War,  the  art  of 
music  steadily  advanced,  and  the  royal  and  ducal  chapels 
flourished.  Amid  such  conditions  and  under  such  patron- 
age accomplished  musicians  were  nurtured  in  France 
and  the  Low  Countries,  and  thence  they  went  forth  to 
teach  all  Europe  the  noble  art  of  counterpoint. 

About  the   year  1350  church  music  had  cast  off  its 

148 


MEDIEVAL   CHORUS  MUSIC 

swaddling  bands  and  had  entered  upon  the  stage  that 
was  soon  to  lead  up  to  maturity.  With  the  opening  of 
the  fifteenth  century  compositions  worthy  to  be  called 
artistic  were  produced.  These  were  hardly  yet  beautiful 
according  to  modern  standards,  certainly  they  had  little 
or  no  characteristic  expression,  but  they  had  begun  to  be 
pliable  and  smooth  sounding,  showing  that  the  notes 
had  come  under  the  composer's  control,  and  that  he  was 
no  longer  an  awkward  apprentice.  From  the  early  part 
of  the  fifteenth  century  we  date  the  epoch  of  artistic 
polyphony,  which  advanced  in  purity  and  dignity  until 
it  culminated  in  the  perfected  art  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury. So  large  a  proportion  of  the  fathers  and  high 
priests  of  mediaeval  counterpoint  belonged  to  the  districts 
now  included  in  Northern  France,  Belgium,  and  Holland 
that  the  period  bounded  by  the  years  1400  and  1550  is 
kno^vn  in  music  history  as  "  the  age  of  the  Netherland- 
ers."  With  limitless  patience  and  cunning,  the  French 
and  Netlierland  musical  artificers  applied  themselves 
to  the  problems  of  counterpoint,  producing  works  enor- 
mous in  quantity  and  often  of  bewildering  intricacy. 
Great  numbers  of  pupils  were  trained  in  the  convents 
and  chai)el  schools,  becoming  masters  in  their  turn,  and 
exercising  commanding  influence  in  the  churches  and 
cloisters  of  all  Europe.  Complexity  in  part  writing 
steadily  increased,  not  only  in  combinations  of  notes,  but 
also  in  the  means  of  indicating  their  employment.  It 
often  happened  that  each  voice  must  sing  to  a  measure 
sign  that  was  different  from  that  provided  for  the  other 
voices.  Double  and  triple  rhythm  alternated,  the  value 
of  notes  of  the  same  character  varied  in  different  circum- 

149 


MUSIC  IN  THE   WESTERN  CHURCH 

stances ;  a  liighly  sophisticated  symbolism  was  invented, 
known  as  "  riddle  canons,"  by  which  adepts  were  enabled 
to  improvise  accompanying  parts  to  the  cantus  firmus; 
and  counterpoint,  single  and  double,  augmented  and 
diminished,  direct,  inverted,  and  retrograde,  became  at 
once  the  end  and  the  means  of  musical  endeavor. 
Rhythm  was  obscured  and  the  words  almost  hopelessly 
lost  in  the  web  of  crossing  parts.  The  cantus  firmus^ 
often  extended  into  notes  of  portentous  length,  lost  all 
expressive  quality,  and  was  treated  only  as  a  thread 
upon  which  this  closely  woven  fabric  was  strung.  Com- 
posers occupied  themselves  by  preference  with  the  me- 
chanical side  of  music ;  quite  unimaginative,  they  were 
absorbed  in  solving  technical  problems;  and  so  they 
went  on  piling  up  difficulties  for  their  fellow-craftsmen 
to  match,  making  music  for  the  eye  rather  than  for  the 
ear,  for  the  logical  faculty  rather  than  for  the  fancy  or 
the  emotion. 

It  would,  however,  be  an  error  to  suppose  that  such 
labored  artifice  was  the  sole  characteristic  of  the  scientific 
music  of  the  fifteenth  century.  The  same  composers 
who  revelled  in  the  exercise  of  this  kind  of  scholastic 
subtlety  also  furnished  their  choirs  with  a  vast  amount 
of  music  in  four,  five,  and  six  parts,  complex  and 
difficult  indeed  from  the  present  point  of  view,  but 
for  the  choristers  as  then  trained  perfectly  available, 
in  which  there  was  a  stiiving  for  solemn  devotional 
effect,  a  melodious  leading  of  the  voices,  and  the  adjust- 
ment of  phrases  into  bolder  and  more  symmetrical  pat- 
terns. Even  among  the  master  fabricators  of  musical 
labyrinths  we  find  glimpses  of  a  recognition  of  the  truQ 

150 


medijEval  chorus  music 

final  aim  of  music,  a  soul  dwelling  in  the  tangled  skeins 
of  their  polyphony,  a  grace  and  inwardness  of  expression 
comparable  to  the  poetic  suggestiveness  which  shines 
through  the  naive  and  often  rude  forms  of  Gothic 
sculpture.  The  growing  fondness  on  the  part  of  the 
austere  church  musicians  for  the  setting  of  secular 
poems  —  madrigals,  chansons,  villanellas,  and  the  like 
—  in  polyphonic  style  gradually  brought  in  a  simpler 
construction,  more  obvious  melody,  and  a  more  char- 
acteristic and  pertinent  expression,  which  reacted  upon 
the  mass  and  motet  in  the  promotion  of  a  more  direct 
and  flexible  manner  of  treatment  The  stile  famigliare^ 
in  which  the  song  moves  note  against  note,  syllable 
against  syllable,  suggesting  modern  chord  progression, 
is  no  invention  of  Palestrina,  with  whose  name  it  is 
commonly  associated,  but  appears  in  many  episodes 
in  the  works  of  his  Netherland  masters. 

The  contrapuntal  chorus  music  of  the  Middle  Age 
reached  its  maturity  in  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth 
century.  For  five  hundred  years  this  art  had  been 
growing,  constantly  putting  forth  new  tendrils,  which 
interlaced  in  luxuriant  and  ever-extending  forms  until 
they  overspread  all  Western  Christendom.  It  was  now 
given  to  one  man,  Giovanni  Pierluigi,  called  Palestrina 
from  the  place  of  his  birth,  to  put  the  finishing  touches 
upon  this  wonder  of  mcdiaBval  genius,  and  to  impart  to 
it  all  of  which  its  peculiar  nature  was  capable  in  respect 
to  technical  completeness,  tonal  purity  and  majesty,  and 
elevated  devotional  expression.  Palestrina  was  more 
than  a  flawless  artist,  more  than  an  Andrea  del  Sarto ; 
he  was  so  representative  of  that  inner  spirit  which  has 

151 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

uttered  itself  in  the  most  sincere  works  of  Catholic  art 
that  the  very  heart  of  the  institution  to  which  he  de- 
voted his  life  may  be  said  to  find  a  voice  in  his  music. 

Palestrina  was  born  probably  in  1526  (authority  of 
Haberl)  and  died  in  1594.  He  spent  almost  the  whole 
of  his  art  life  as  director  of  music  at  Rome  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  popes,  being  at  one  time  also  a  singer  in  the 
papal  chapel.  He  enriched  every  portion  of  the  ritual 
with  compositions,  the  catalogue  of  his  works  includ- 
ing ninety-five  masses.  Among  his  contemporaries  at 
Rome  were  men  such  as  Vittoria,  Marenzio,  the  Anerios, 
and  the  Naninis,  who  worked  in  the  same  style  as  Pales- 
trina. Together  they  compose  the  "  Roman  school  " 
or  the  "  Palestrina  school,"  and  all  that  may  be  said  of 
Palestrina's  style  would  apply  in  somewhat  diminished 
degree  to  the  writings  of  this  whole  group. 

Palestrina  has  been  enshrined  in  history  as  the 
"  savior  of  church  music  "  by  virtue  of  a  myth  which  has 
until  recent  years  been  universally  regarded  as  a  his- 
toric fact.  The  first  form  of  the  legend  was  to  the 
effect  that  the  reforming  Council  of  Trent  (1545-1563) 
had  serious  thoughts  of  abolishing  the  chorus  music 
of  the  Church  everywhere,  and  reducing  all  liturgic 
music  to  the  plain  unison  chant;  that  judgment  was 
suspended  at  the  request  of  Pope  Marcellus  II.  until 
Palestrina  could  produce  a  work  that  should  be  free 
from  all  objectionable  features ;  that  a  mass  of  his  com- 
position —  the  Mass  of  Pope  Marcellus  —  was  per- 
formed before  a  commission  of  cardinals,  and  that  its 
beauty  and  refinement  so  impressed  the  judges  that 
polyphonic  music  was  saved  and  Palestrina's  style  pro- 

152 


MEDIEVAL   CHORUS  MUSIC 

claimed  as  the  most  perfect  model  of  artistic  music. 
This  tale  has  undergone  gradual  reduction  until  it  has 
been  found  that  the  Council  of  Trent  contented  itself 
with  simply  recommending  to  the  bishops  that  they 
exclude  from  the  churches  "  all  musical  compositions  in 
which  anything  impure  or  lascivious  is  mingled,"  yet 
not  attempting  to  define  what  was  meant  by  "  impure  " 
and  "  lascivious."  The  commission  of  cardinals  had 
jurisdiction  only  over  some  minor  questions  of  discipline 
in  the  papal  choir,  and  if  Palestrina  had  the  mass  in 
question  sung  before  them  (which  is  doubtful)  it  had 
certainly  been  composed  a  number  of  years  earlier. 

Certain  abuses  that  called  for  correction  there  doubt- 
less were  in  church  music  in  this  period.  The  preva- 
lent practice  of  borrowing  themes  from  secular  songs 
for  the  cantus  Jirmus,  with  sometimes  the  first  few 
words  of  the  original  song  at  the  beginning  —  as  in 
the  mass  of  "•  The  Armed  Man,"  the  "  Adieu,  my  Love  " 
mass,  etc.  —  was  certainly  objectionable  from  the  stand- 
point of  propriety,  although  the  intention  was  never 
profane,  and  the  impression  received  was  not  sacrilegious. 
Moreover,  the  song  of  the  Church  had  at  times  be- 
come so  artificial  and  sophisticated  as  to  belie  the  true 
purpose  of  worship  music.  But  among  aU  the  records 
of  complaint  we  find  only  one  at  all  frequent,  and  that 
was  that  the  sacred  words  could  not  be  understood  in 
the  elaborate  contrapuntal  interweaving  of  the  voices. 
In  the  history  of  every  church,  in  all  periods,  down  even 
to  the  present  time,  there  has  always  been  a  party  that 
discountenances  everything  that  looks  like  art  for  the 
sake  of  art,  satisfied  only  with  the  simplest  and  rudest 

153 


MUSIC  IN   THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

form  of  music,  setting  the  reception  of  the  sacred  text 
so  far  above  the  pleasure  of  the  sense  that  all  artistic 
embellishment  seems  to  them  profanation.  This  class 
was  represented  at  the  Council  of  Trent,  but  it  was 
never  in  the  majority,  and  never  strenuous  for  the  total 
abolition  of  figured  music.  No  reform  was  instituted 
but  such  as  would  have  come  about  inevitably  from  the 
ever-increasing  refinement  of  the  art  and  the  assertion 
of  the  nobler  traditions  of  the  Church  in  the  Counter- 
Reformation.  An  elevation  of  the  ideal  of  church  music 
there  doubtless  was  at  this  time,  and  the  genius  of 
Palestrina  was  one  of  the  most  potent  factors  in  its  pro- 
motion; but  it  was  a  natural  growth,  not  a  violent 
turning  of  direction. 

The  dissipation  of  the  halo  of  special  beatification 
which  certain  early  worshipers  of  Palestrina  have 
attempted  to  throw  about  the  Mass  of  Pope  Mar- 
cellus  has  in  no  wise  dimmed  its  glory.  It  is  not 
unworthy  of  the  renown  which  it  has  so  dubiously 
acquired.  Although  many  times  equalled  by  its  author, 
he  never  surpassed  it,  and  few  will  be  inclined  to  dispute 
the  distinction  it  has  always  claimed  as  the  most  perfect 
product  of  mediaeval  musical  art.  Its  style  was  not 
new ;  it  does  not  mark  the  beginning  of  a  new  era, 
as  certain  writers  but  slightly  versed  in  music  history 
have  supposed,  but  the  culmination  of  an  old  one.  It 
is  essentially  in  the  manner  of  the  Netherland  school, 
which  the  myth-makers  would  represent  as  condemned 
by  the  Council  of  Trent.  Josquin  des  Pr^s,  Orlandus 
Lassus,  Goudimel,  and  many  others  had  written  music 
in  the  same  style,  just  as  chaste  and  subdued,  with  the 

154 


MEDIAEVAL    CHORUS  MUSIC 

same  ideal  in  mind,  and  almost  as  perfectly  beautiful. 
It  is  not  a  simple  work,  letting  the  text  stand  forth  in 
clear  and  obvious  relief,  as  the  legend  would  require. 
It  is  a  masterpiece  of  construction,  abounding  in  techni- 
cal subtleties,  differing  from  the  purest  work  of  the 
Netherlanders  only  in  being  even  more  delicately  tinted 
and  sweet  in  melody  than  the  best  of  them  could  attain. 
It  was  in  the  quality  of  melodious  grace  that  Palestrina 
soared  above  his  Netherland  masters.  Melody,  as  we 
know,  is  the  peculiar  endowment  of  the  Italians,  and 
Palestrina,  a  typical  son  of  Italy,  crowned  the  Nether- 
land science  with  an  ethereal  grace  of  movement  which 
completed  once  for  all  the  four  hundred  years'  striving 
of  contrapuntal  art,  and  made  it  stand  forth  among 
the  artistic  creations  of  the  Middle  Age  perhaps  the 
most  divinely  radiant  of  them  all. 

It  may  seem  strange  at  first  thought  that  a  form  which 
embodied  the  deepest  and  sincerest  religious  feeling 
that  has  ever  been  projected  in  tones  should  have  been 
perfected  in  an  age  when  all  other  art  liad  become  to  a 
large  degree  sensuous  and  worldly,  and  when  the  Cath- 
olic Church  was  under  condemnation,  not  only  by  its 
enemies,  but  also  by  many  of  its  grieving  friends,  for  its 
political  ambition,  avarice,  and  corruption.  The  papacy 
was  at  that  moment  reaping  the  inevitable  harvest  of 
spiritual  indifference  and  moral  decline,  and  had  fallen 
upon  days  of  struggle,  confusion,  and  humiliation.  The 
Lutheran,  Calvinistic,  and  Anglican  revolt  had  rent  from 
the  Holy  See  some  of  the  fairest  of  its  dominions,  and 
those  that  remained  were  in  a  condition  of  poUtical  and 
intellectual  tuimoil.     That  a  reform  "  in  head  and  mem- 

155 


MUSIC  IN  THE   WESTERN  CHURCH 

bers  "  was  indeed  needed  is  established  not  by  the  accusa- 
tions of  hostile  witnesses  alone,  but  by  the  demands  of 
many  of  the  staunchest  prelates  of  the  time  and  the  admis- 
sions of  unimpeachable  Catholic  historians.  But,  as  the 
sequel  proved,  it  was  the  head  far  more  than  the  mem- 
bers that  required  surgery.  The  lust  for  sensual  enjoy- 
ments, personal  and  family  aggrandizement,  and  the 
pomp  and  luxury  of  worldly  power,  which  had  made  the 
papacy  of  the  fifteenth  and  first  half  of  the  sixteenth 
centuries  a  byword  in  Europe,  the  decline  of  faith  in 
the  early  ideals  of  the  Church,  the  excesses  of  physical 
and  emotional  indulgence  which  came  in  with  the  Re- 
naissance as  a  natural  reaction  against  mediaeval  repres- 
sion, —  all  this  had  produced  a  moral  degeneracy  in 
Rome  and  its  dependencies  which  can  hardly  be  exag- 
gerated. But  the  assertion  that  the  Catholic  Church  at 
large,  or  even  in  Rome,  was  wholly  given  over  to  cor- 
ruption and  formalism  is  sufficiently  refuted  by  the  sub- 
lime manifestation  of  moral  force  which  issued  in  the 
Catholic  Reaction  and  the  Counter-Reformation,  the  de- 
crees of  the  Council  of  Trent,  and  the  deeds  of  such 
moral  heroes  as  Carlo  Borromeo,  Phillip  Neri,  Ignatius 
Loyola,  Francis  Xavier,  Theresa  of  Jesus,  Francis  de 
Sales,  Vincent  de  Paul,  and  the  founders  and  leaders  of 
the  Capuchins,  Theatines,  Ursulines,  and  other  benefi- 
cent religious  orders,  whose  hves  and  achievements  are 
the  glory  not  only  of  Catholicism,  but  of  the  human  race. 
The  great  church  composers  of  the  sixteenth  century 
were  kindred  to  such  spirits  as  these,  and  the  reviving 
piety  of  the  time  found  its  most  adequate  symbol  in  the 
realm  of  art  in  the  masses  and  hymns  of  Palestrina  and 

156 


MEDIEVAL   CHORUS  MUSIC 

his  compeers.  These  men  were  nurtured  in  the  cloisters 
and  choirs.  The  Church  was  their  sole  patron,  and  no 
higher  privilege  could  be  conceived  by  them  than  that 
of  lending  their  powers  to  the  service  of  that  sublime 
institution  into  which  their  lives  were  absorbed.  They 
were  not  agitated  by  the  political  and  doctrinal  ferment 
of  the  day.  No  sphere  of  activity  could  more  completely 
remove  a  man  from  mundane  influences  than  the  em- 
ployment of  a  church  musician  of  that  period.  The 
abstract  nature  of  music  as  an  art,  together  with  the  en- 
grossing routine  of  a  liturgic  office,  kept  these  men,  as  it 
were,  close  to  the  inner  sanctuary  of  their  religion,  where 
the  ecclesiastical  traditions  were  strongest  and  purest. 
The  music  of  the  Church  in  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth 
centuries  was  unaffected  by  the  influences  wliich  had 
done  so  much  to  make  other  forms  of  Itahan  art  min- 
isters to  pride  and  sensual  gratification.  Music,  through 
its  very  limitations,  possessed  no  means  of  flattering  the 
appetites  of  an  Alexander  VI.,  the  luxurious  tastes  of  a 
Leo  X.,  or  the  inordinate  pride  of  a  Julius  II.  It  was 
perforce  allowed  to  develop  unconstrained  along  the  line 
of  austere  tradition.  Art  forms  seem  often  to  be  under 
the  control  of  a  law  which  requires  that  when  once  set 
in  motion  they  must  run  their  course  independently  of 
changes  in  their  environment.  These  two  factors,  there- 
fore, —  the  compulsion  of  an  advancing  art  demanding 
completion,  and  the  uncontaminated  springs  of  piety 
whence  the  liturgy  and  its  musical  setting  drew  their 
life,  —  will  explain  the  splendid  achievements  of  religious 
music  in  the  hands  of  the  Catholic  composers  of  the 
sixteenth  century  amid  conditions  which  would  at  first 

157 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

thought  seem  unfavorable  to  the  nurture  of  an  art  so 
pure  and  austere. 

Under  such  influences,  impelled  by  a  zeal  for  the 
glory  of  God  and  the  honor  of  his  Church,  the  poly- 
phony of  the  Netherland  school  put  forth  its  consum- 
mate flower  in  the  "  Palestrina  style."  In  the  works  of 
this  later  school  we  may  distinguish  two  distinct  modes 
of  treatment:  (1)  the  intricate  texture  and  soUdity  of 
Netherland  work ;  (2)  the  "  familiar  style,"  in  which 
the  voices  move  together  in  equal  steps,  without  canonic 
imitations.  In  the  larger  compositions  we  have  a  blend- 
ing and  alternation  of  these  two,  and  the  scholastic 
Netherland  polyphony  appears  clarified,  and  moulded 
into  more  plastic  outlines  for  the  attainment  of  a  more 
refined  vehicle  of  expression. 

The  marked  dissimilarity  between  the  music  of  the 
mediaeval  school  and  that  of  the  present  era  is  to  a  large 
extent  explained  by  the  differences  between  the  key  and 
harmonic  systems  upon  which  they  are  severally  based. 
In  the  modern  system  the  relationship  of  notes  to  the 
antithetic  tone-centres  of  tonic  and  dominant,  and  the 
freedom  of  modulation  from  one  key  to  another  by 
means  of  the  introduction  of  notes  that  do  not  exist  in 
the  first,  give  opportunities  for  effect  which  are  not  ob- 
tainable in  music  based  upon  the  Gregorian  modes,  for 
the  reason  that  these  modes  do  not  differ  in  the  notes 
employed  (since  they  include  only  the  notes  repre- 
sented by  the  white  keys  of  the  pianoforte  plus  the  B 
flat),  but  only  in  the  relation  of  the  intervals  to  the  note 
which  forms  the  keynote  or  "  final."  The  conception 
of  music  based  on  the  latter  system  is,  strictly  speaking, 

158 


MEDIEVAL   CHORUS  MUSIC 

melodic,  not  harmonic  in  the  modem  technical  sense, 
and  the  resulting  combinations  of  sounds  are  not  con- 
ceived as  chords  built  upon  a  certain  tone  taken  as  a 
fundamental,  but  rather  as  consequences  of  the  conjunc- 
tion of  horizontally  moving  series  of  single  notes.  The 
harmony,  therefore,  seems  both  vague  and  monotonous 
to  the  ear  trained  in  accordance  with  the  laws  of  modern 
music,  because,  in  addition  to  being  almost  purely  dia- 
tonic, it  lacks  the  stable  pivotal  points  which  give  sym- 
metry, contrast,  and  cohesion  to  modern  tone  structure. 
The  old  system  admits  chromatic  changes  but  sparingly, 
chiefly  in  order  to  provide  a  leading  tone  in  a  cadence, 
or  to  obviate  an  objectionable  melodic  interval.  Conse- 
quently there  is  little  of  what  we  should  call  variety  or 
positive  color  quality.  There  is  no  pronounced  leading 
melody  to  which  the  other  parts  are  subordinate.  The 
theme  consists  of  a  few  chant-like  notes,  speedily  taken 
up  by  one  voice  after  another  under  control  of  the  prin- 
ciple of  "  imitation."  For  the  same  reasons  the  succes- 
sion of  phrases,  periods,  and  sections  which  constitutes 
the  architectonic  principle  of  form  in  modern  music  does 
not  appear.  Even  in  the  "  familiar  style,"  in  which  the 
parts  move  together  like  blocks  of  chords  of  equal 
length,  the  implied  principle  is  melodic  in  all  the  voices, 
not  tune  above  and  accompaniment  beneath  ;  and  the 
progression  is  not  guided  by  the  necessity  of  revolving 
about  mutually  supporting  tone-centres. 

In  this  "  familiar  style  "  which  we  may  trace  back- 
waixi  to  the  age  of  the  Netherlanders,  we  find  a  remote 
anticipation  of  the  modern  harmonic  feeling.  A  vague 
sense  of  complementary  colors  of  tonic  and  dominant, 

U9 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

caught  perhaps  from  the  popular  music  with  which 
the  most  scientific  composers  of  the  fifteenth  and  six- 
teenth centuries  always  kept  closely  in  touch,  is  some- 
times evident  for  brief  moments,  but  never  carried  out 
systematically  to  the  end.  This  plain  style  is  employed  in 
hymns  and  short  sentences,  in  connection  with  texts  of 
an  especially  mournful  or  pleading  expression,  as,  for 
instance,  the  Improperia  and  the  Miserere,  or,  for  con- 
trast's sake,  in  the  more  tranquil  passages  of  masses  or 
motets.  It  is  a  style  that  is  peculiarly  tender  and  gra- 
cious, and  may  be  found  reflected  in  the  sweetest  of 
modern  Latin  and  English  hymn-tunes.  In  the  absence 
of  chromatic  changes  it  is  the  most  serene  fomi  of  music 
in  existence,  and  is  suggestive  of  the  confidence  and  re- 
pose of  spirit  which  is  the  most  refined  essence  of  the 
devotional  mood. 


Example  of  the  Simple  Style  (stile  fatnigliare).     Palestrina.. 
Soprano.  ^— *^ 


-^~\—^ 


-{  ^-H<>ti ^ ig 


1M:: 


i 


O        bo  -  ne        Je 
Alto. 


su! 


Mi 


m^ 


sr 


igyii  '  (g — (&- 
O       bo  -  ne      Je 

Tenor.  ^^ 


r?^ 


Mi 


3!; 


^+5*1+- 


-a' 


G-  ^-^-=^=  ~^— #-#-^ 


s^^^— 6^ 


O       bo  -  ne      Je 


Ba89. 


Ww^^ 


:M: 


O       bo  -  ne 


Je 


su! 


Mi 


Mi 


'^32:. 


160 


MEDIEVAL   CHORUS  MUSIC 


1^ 


^  ngtt 


gy^— gy      gL 


re   -   re  no 


bis,  Qui 


a       ta    ere  - 


^ 


--t^ 


4\a,    '     ttgH 


no    -     bis 


^ 


Qui 


a       tu   ere 


:Mt 


re  -  re         no        -        -    bis 


Qui 


a       tu  ere  ■ 


■Si rtgH- 


1^ 


re   •   re  no 


bis 


Qui 


a        tu    ere 


yg       <g 


:M: 


-<&—iS-^^ 


^— H«4f 


i 


DOS ; 


tu 


re  -  de  -  mi 


sti    nos 


i^ 


-#-«5^ 


$2±: 


^ttj=2 


1^ 


sti   nos ;    tu re  -  de  -  mi 


sti      nos 


n 

V  '^ 

^ 

fTj        ^ 

a 

,^— ^ 

/L           ^ 

■^* 

__'=' 

a 

frh 

11>!J 

a    - 

sti 

nos; 

tu 

re  -  de  -  mi 

-  sti 

nos 

'•V            '^ 

11^! 

c^             "^ 

^-^ 

_     ,** 

Ir^l 

,^,. 

"-- 

1 

^-^ 

r 

. 

»    -    ati 
11 


tu  re  -  de  -  mi     •       sti     oos 

161 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 


a  '  ts  \  a   rs. 


i 


1 


ie:;^:^ 


^ 


r=l=4: 


M 


-<& — (5^+)^ 


San  -  gai  -  ne    tu  -  o    prae  -  ti  -  o  -  sis 


i 


I 


s 


s 


IS 


-<S»-r- 


San  -  gai  -  ne  tu  -  o      prae    -    ti  •   o 


Z^L 


1 


a_J! — (5!_  I2^_i2_ -^ 


h2^- 


t;;,'^^— ^-{]g[{- 


San  -  gui  -  ne    tu  -   o    prae  -  ti 


^J 


S>      Si 


-gy 


San 


gui  -  ne    tu  -  o  prae  -  ti 


The  intricate  style  commonly  prevails  in  larger  works 
—  masses,  motets,  and  the  longer  hymns.  Only  after 
careful  analysis  can  we  appreciate  the  wonderful  art 
that  has  entered  into  its  fabrication.  Upon  examining 
works  of  this  class  we  find  the  score  consisting  of  four 
or  more  parts,  but  not  usually  exceeding  eight.  The 
most  obvious  feature  of  the  design  is  that  each  part 
appears  quite  independent  of  the  others;  the  melody 
does  not  lie  in  one  voice  while  the  others  act  as  accom- 
paniment, but  each  part  is  as  much  a  melody  as  any 
other ;  each  voice  pursues  its  easy,  unfettered  way,  now 
one  acting  as  leader,  now  another,  the  voices  often  cross- 
ing each  other,  each  melody  apparently  quite  regardless 
of  its  mates  in  respect  to  the  time  of  beginning,  culmi- 
nating, and  ending,  tlie  voices  apparently  not  subject  to 
any  common  law  of  accent  or  rhythm,  but  each  busy 
with  its  own  individual  progress.     The  onward  move- 

162 


MEDIEVAL   CHORUS  MUSIC 

ment  is  like  a  series  of  waves ;  no  sooner  is  the  mind 
fixed  upon  one  than  it  is  lost  in  the  ordered  confusion  of 
those  that  follow.  The  music  seems  also  to  have  no 
definite  rhythm.  Each  single  voice  part  is  indeed 
rhythmical,  as  a  sentence  of  prose  may  be  rhythmical, 
but  since  the  melodic  constituents  come  in  upon  differ- 
ent parts  of  the  measure,  one  culminating  at  one  moment, 
another  at  another,  the  parts  often  crossing  each  other, 
so  that  while  the  mind  may  be  fixed  upon  one  melody 
which  seems  to  lead,  another,  which  has  been  coming  up 
from  below,  strikes  in  across  the  field,  —  the  result  of  all 
this  is  that  the  attention  is  constantly  being  dislodged 
from  one  tonal  centre  and  shifted  to  another,  and  the 
whole  scheme  of  design  seems  without  form,  a  fluctu- 
ating mass  swayed  hither  and  thither  without  coherent 
plan.  The  music  does  not  lack  dynamic  change  or 
alteration  of  speed,  but  these  contrasts  are  often  so 
subtly  graded  that  it  is  not  apparent  where  they  begin 
or  end.  The  whole  effect  is  measured,  subdued,  solemn. 
We  are  never  startled,  there  is  nothing  that  sets  the 
nerves  throbbing.  But  as  we  hear  this  music  again  and 
again,  analyzing  its  properties,  shutting  out  all  precon- 
ceptions, little  by  little  there  steal  over  us  sensations  of 
surprise,  then  of  wonder,  then  of  admiration.  These 
delicately  shaded  harmonies  develop  unimagined  beau- 
ties. Without  sharp  contrast  of  dissonance  and  conso- 
nance they  are  yet  full  of  shifting  lights  and  hues,  like 
a  meadow  under  breeze  and  sunshine,  which  to  the  care- 
less eye  seems  only  a  mass  of  unvarying  green,  but 
which  reveals  to  the  keener  sense  infinite  modulation  of 
the  scale  of   color.     No   melody  lies  conspicuous  upon 

X63 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

the  surface,  but  the  whole  harmonic  substance  is  full  of 
undulating  melody,  each  voice  pursuing  its  confident, 
unfettered  motion  amid  the  ingenious  complexity  of 
which  it  is  a  constituent  part. 


Fkagment  of  Ktrie,  from   the  Mass  of  Pope  Mabcellus.    No- 
VELLo's  Edition.     Palestrina. 


Soprano  I. 


V — -Hfi?H i2 _j5)_ 


32=i2rE=a: 


*  s  ^ 


Ky    -    rie     e  -  lei 
Soprano  II. 


son, 


Ky- 


il 


Ky      -      rie    e      -      lei 
Alto  I. 


3! 


E 1: 


Ky 


=^ 


-<S>-       "^     -t5>- 


rie  e  -   lei 


Alto  II.  &  Tenor. 


3i 


Ky 


Bass  I. 


m 


Bass  II. 


■il 


-V  \7Z>  'g 


sr 


Ky 
164 


rie      e      -     lei 


MEDIEVAL   CHORUS  MUSIC 

In  considering  further  the  technical  methods  and  the 
final  aims  of  this  marvellous  style,  we  find  in  its  cul- 
minating period  that  the  crown  of  the  mediaeval  contra- 
puntal art  upon  its  aesthetic  side  lies  in  the  attainment 
of  beauty  of  tone  effect  in  and  of  itself  —  the  gratifica- 
tion of  the  sensuous  ear,  rich  and  subtly  modulated 
sound  quality,  not  in   the  individual  boys'  and  men's 


iS'-r- 


-^2— r# 


^ 


i 


ms 


lei 


m 


=:]^ 


:*=EZE 


8on. 


Ky 


e    -    lei 


4=1: 


s.--^ 


son, 


Ky    -  rie       e  -   lei  -  son, 


^=r^ 


Ky 


f       Tf--o ^ 


lei 


5 


- «- 


m^ 


j2: 


w 


Ky 


lei 


t^-- 


-^1 


son,        Ky  -   rie    e  -  lei      -      son, 
165 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

voices,  but  in  the  distribution  and  combination  of  voices 
of  different  timbre.  That  mastery  toward  which  orches- 
tral composers  have  been  striving  during  the  past  one 
hundred  years  —  the  union  and  contrast  of  stringed  and 
wind  instruments  for  the  production  of  impressions 
upon  the  ear  analogous  to  those  produced  upon  the  eye 
by  the  color  of  a  Rembrandt  or  a  Titian  —  this  was  also 
sought,  and,  so  far  as  the  slender  means  went,  achieved 
in  a  wonderful  degree  by  the  tone-masters  of  the  Roman 


■s'-r^^-m 


4mt 


:si 


Ky 


e    -  lei    -    son, 


:^:^ 


3E 


••^ 


son, 


is: 


Ky       -     rie      e    •    lei    -    son, 


i^i 


*—^&- 


=5 


3E! 


lei 


-    son,  Ky    -    rie         e 


i3?^i^ 


'^      H". 


son, 


e    -      lei 


son, 
^-     -a- 


Ky 


-Gt- 


-27- 


121 


son,  e 


lei 


Ky  -  rie 


^-^ 


e  -  lei  - 


gy  w. 


Ky 


lei 


son, 


166 


MEDIAEVAL   CHORUS  MUSIC 

and  Venetian  schools.  The  chorus,  we  must  remind 
ourselves,  was  not  dependent  upon  an  accompaniment, 
and  sensuous  beauty  of  tone  must,  therefore,  result  not 
merely  from  the  individual  quality  of  the  voices,  but 
still  more  from  the  manner  in  which  the  notes  were 
grouped.  The  distribution  of  the  components  of  a  chord 
in  oixier  to  produce  the  greatest  sonority  ;  the  alternation 
of  the  lower  voices  mth  the  higher ;  the  elimination  of 
voices  as  a  section  approached  its  close,  until  the  har- 
mony was  reduced  at  the  last  syllable  to  two  higher 
voices  in  pianissimo,  as  though  the  strain  were  vanishing 
into  the  upper  air  ;  the  resolution  of  tangled  polyphony 
into  a  sun-burst  of  open  golden  chords ;  the  subtle  in- 
trusion of  veiled  dissonances  into  the  fluent  gleaming 
concord  ;  the  skilful  blending  of  the  vocal  registers  for 
the  production  of  exquisite  contrasts  of  light  and  shade, 
—  these  and  many  other  devices  were  employed  for  the 
attainment  of  delicate  and  lustrous  sound  tints,  with 
results  to  which  modern  chorus  writing  affords  no  par- 
allel. The  culmination  of  this  tendency  could  not  be 
reached  until  the  art  of  interweaving  voices  according  to 
regular  but  flexible  patterns  had  been  fully  mastered, 
and  composers  had  learned  to  lead  their  parts  with  the 
confidence  with  which  the  engraver  traces  his  lines  to 
shape  them  into  designs  of  beauty. 

The  singular  perfection  of  the  work  of  Palestrina  has 
served  to  direct  the  slight  attention  which  the  world 
now  gives  to  the  music  of  the  sixteenth  century  almost 
exclusively  to  him  ;  yet  he  was  but  one  master  among  a 
goodly  number  whose  productions  are  but  slightly  in- 
ferior to  his,  — primus  inter  pares.     Orlandus  Lassus  in 

167 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

Munich,  Willaert,  and  the  two  Grabrielis,  Andrea  and 
Giovanni,  and  Croce  in  Venice,  the  Naninis,  Vittoria, 
and  the  Anerios  in  Rome,  Tallis  in  England,  are  names 
wliich  do  not  pale  when  placed  beside  that  of  the 
"  prince  of  music."  Venice,  particularly,  was  a  worthy 
rival  of  Rome  in  the  sphere  of  church  song.  The  cata- 
logue of  her  musicians  who  flourished  in  the  sixteenth 
and  early  part  of  the  seventeenth  centuries  contains  the 
names  of  men  who  were  truly  sovereigns  in  their  art, 
not  inferior  to  Palestrina  in  science,  compensating  for  a 
comparative  lack  of  the  super-refined  delicacy  and  trem- 
ulous pathos  which  distinguished  the  Romans  by  a 
larger  emphasis  upon  contrast,  color  variety,  and  char- 
acteristic expression.  It  was  as  though  the  splendors 
of  Venetian  painting  had  been  emulated,  although  in 
reduced  shades,  by  these  masters  of  Venetian  music. 
In  admitting  into  their  works  contrivances  for  effect 
which  anticipated  a  coming  revolution  in  musical  art, 
the  Venetians,  rather  than  the  Romans,  form  the  con- 
necting link  between  mediaeval  and  modern  religious 
music.  In  the  Venetian  school  we  find  triumphing 
over  the  ineffable  calmness  and  remote  impersonality  of 
the  Romans  a  more  individual  quality  —  a  strain  almost 
of  passion  and  stress,  and  a  far  greater  sonority  and 
pomp.  Chromatic  changes,  at  first  irregular  and  un- 
systematized, come  gradually  into  use  as  a  means  of  at- 
taining greater  intensity ;  dissonances  become  more 
pronounced,  foreshadowing  the  change  of  key  system 
with  all  its  consequences.  The  contrapuntal  leading  of 
parts,  in  whose  cunning  labyrinths  the  expression  of 
feeling   through   melody   strove   to   lose   itself,   tended 

168 


MEDIEVAL   CHORUS  MUSIC 

under  the  different  ideal  cherished  by  the  Venetians  to 
condense  into  more  massive  harmonies,  with  bolder  out- 
lines and  melody  rising  into  more  obvious  relief.  As 
far  back  as  the  early  decades  of  the  sixteenth  century 
Venice  had  begun  to  loosen  the  bands  of  mediaeval 
choral  law,  and  by  a  freer  use  of  dissonances  to  prepare 
the  ear  for  a  new  order  of  perceptions.  The  unprece- 
dented importance  given  to  the  organ  by  the  Venetian 
church  composers,  and  the  appearance  of  the  beginnings 
of  an  independent  organ  style,  also  contributed  strongly 
to  the  furtherance  of  the  new  tendencies.  In  this 
broader  outlook,  more  individual  stamp,  and  more  self- 
conscious  aim  toward  brilliancy  the  music  of  Venice 
simply  shared  those  impulses  that  manifested  themselves 
in  the  gorgeous  canvases  of  her  great  painters  and  in 
the  regal  splendors  of  her  public  spectacles. 

The  national  love  of  pomp  and  ceremonial  display 
was  shoNvn  in  the  church  festivals  hardly  less  than  in 
the  secular  pageants,  and  all  that  could  embellish  the 
externals  of  the  church  solemnities  was  eagerly  adopted. 
All  the  most  distinguished  members  of  the  line  of  Vene- 
tian church  composers  were  connected  with  the  church 
of  St.  Mark  as  choir  directors  and  organists,  and  they 
imparted  to  their  compositions  a  breadth  of  tone  and 
warmth  of  color  fully  in  keeping  with  the  historic  and 
artistic  glory  of  this  superb  temple.  The  founder  of  the 
sixteenth-century  Venetian  school  was  Adrian  Willaert, 
a  Netherlander,  who  was  chapel-master  at  St.  Mark's 
from  1527  to  1563.  It  was  he  who  first  employed  the 
metliod  which  became  a  notable  feature  of  the  music  of 
St.   Mark's,  of  dividing  the  choir  and  thus  obtaining 

169 


MUSIC  IN  THE   WESTERN  CHURCH 

novel  effects  of  contrast  and  climax  by  means  of  antiph- 
onal  chorus  singing.  The  hint  was  given  to  Willaert 
by  the  construction  of  the  church,  which  contains  two 
music  galleries  opposite  each  other,  each  with  its  organ. 
The  freer  use  of  dissonances,  so  characteristic  of  the 
adventurous  spirit  of  the  Venetian  composers,  first  be- 
came a  significant  trait  in  the  writings  of  Willaert. 

The  tendency  to  lay  less  stress  upon  interior  intricacy 
and  more  upon  harmonic  strength,  striking  tone  color, 
and  cumulative  grandeur  is  even  more  apparent  in  Wil- 
laert's  successors  at  St.  Mark's,  —  Cyprian  de  Rore, 
Claudio  Merulo,  and  the  two  Gabrielis.  Andrea  and 
Giovanni  Gabrieli  carried  the  splendid  tonal  art  of 
Venice  to  unprecedented  heights,  adding  a  third  choir 
to  the  two  of  Willaert,  and  employing  alternate  choir 
singing,  combinations  of  parts,  and  massing  of  voices  in 
still  more  ingenious  profusion.  Winterfeld,  the  chief 
historian  of  this  epoch,  thus  describes  the  performance 
of  a  twelve-part  psalm  by  G,  Gabrieli :  "  Three  choruses, 
one  of  deep  voices,  one  of  higher,  and  the  third  consist- 
ing of  the  four  usual  parts,  are  separated  from  each 
other.  Like  a  tender,  fervent  prayer  begins  the  song  in 
the  deeper  chorus,  '  God  be  merciful  unto  us  and  bless 
us.'  Then  the  middle  choir  continues  with  similar  ex- 
pression, '  And  cause  his  face  to  shine  upon  us.'  The 
higher  chorus  strikes  in  with  the  words,  '  That  thy  way 
may  be  known  upon  earth.'  In  full  voice  the  strain  now 
resounds  from  all  three  choirs,  '  Thy  saving  health  among 
all  nations.'  The  words,  '  Thy  saving  health,'  are  given 
with  especial  earnestness,  and  it  is  to  be  noticed  that 
this  utterance  comes  not  from  all  the  choirs  together, 

170 


MEDIEVAL   CHORUS  MUSIC 

nor  from  a  single  one  entire,  but  from  selected  voices 
from  each  choir  in  full-toned  interwoven  parts.  We 
shall  not  attempt  to  describe  how  energetic  and  fiery  the 
song,  '  Let  all  the  people  praise  thee,  O  God,'  pours  forth 
from  the  choirs  in  alternation ;  how  tastefully  the  master 
proclaims  the  words,  '  Let  the  nations  be  glad  and  sing 
for  joy,'  through  change  of  measure  and  limitation  to 
selected  voices  from  all  the  choirs  ;  how  the  words,  '  And 
God  shall  bless  us,'  are  uttered  in  solemn  masses  of 
choral  song.  Language  could  give  but  a  feeble  sugges- 
tion of  the  magnificence  of  this  music."  ^ 

Great  as  Giovanni  Gabrieli  was  as  master  of  all  the 
secrets  of  mediaeval  counterpoint  and  also  of  the  special 
applications  devised  by  the  school  of  Venice,  he  holds 
an  even  more  eminent  station  as  the  foremost  of  the 
founders  of  modern  instrumental  art,  which  properly 
took  its  starting  point  in  St.  Mark's  church  in  the  six- 
teenth century.  These  men  conceived  that  the  organ 
might  claim  a  larger  function  than  merely  aiding  the 
voices  here  and  there,  and  they  began  to  experiment 
with  independent  performances  where  the  ritual  per- 
mitted such  innovation.  So  we  see  the  first  upspring- 
ing  of  a  lusty  growth  of  instrumental  forms,  if  they 
may  properly  be  called  forms,  —  canzonas  (the  modern 
fugue  in  embryo),  toccatas,  ricercare  (at  fii-st  nothing 
more  than  vocal  counterpoint  transferred  to  the  organ), 
fantasias,  etc.,  —  rambling,  amorphous,  incoherent  pieces 
but  vastly  significant  as  holding  the  promise  and  po- 
tency of  a  new  art.  Of  these  far-sighted  experiment- 
ers Giovanni    Gabrieli  was   easily  chief.     Consummate 

1  Winterfeld,  Johannet  Gabrieli  und  tein  Zeitalter. 
171 


MUSIC  IN  THE   WESTERN  CHURCH 

master  of  the  ancient  forms,  he  laid  the  first  pier  of  the 
arch  which  was  to  connect  two  epochs ;  honoring  the 
old  traditions  by  his  achievements  in  chorus  music,  and 
.leading  his  disciples  to  perceive  possibilities  of  expres- 
sion which  were  to  respond  to  the  needs  of  a  new  age. 
Anotlier  composer  of  the  foremost  rank  demands  at- 
tention before  we  take  leave  of  the  medisBval  contra- 
puntal school.  Orlandus  Lassus  (original  Flemish 
Roland  de  Lattre,  Italianized  Orlando  di  Lasso)  was  a 
musician  whose  genius  entitles  him  to  a  pkce  in  the 
same  inner  circle  with  Palestrina  and  Gabrieli.  He 
lived  from  1520  to  1594.  His  most  important  field  of 
labor  was  Munich.  In  force,  variety,  and  range  of  sub- 
ject and  treatment  he  surpasses  Palestrina,  but  is  inferior 
to  the  great  Roman  in  pathos,  nobility,  and  spiritual 
fervor.  His  music  is  remarkable  in  view  of  its  period 
for  energy,  sharp  contrasts,  and  bold  experiments  in 
chromatic  alteration.  "  Orlando,"  says  Ambros,  "  is  a 
Janus  who  looks  back  toward  the  great  past  of  music  in 
which  he  arose,  but  also  forward  toward  the  approach- 
ing epoch."  An  unsurpassed  master  of  counterpoint, 
he  yet  depended  much  upon  simpler  and  more  condensed 
harmonic  movements.  The  number  of  his  works  reaches 
2337,  of  which  765  are  secular.  His  motets  hold  a 
more  important  place  than  his  masses,  and  in  many  of 
the  former  are  to  be  found  elements  that  are  so  direct 
and  forceful  in  expression  as  almost  to  be  called  dra- 
matic. His  madrigals  and  choral  songs  are  especially 
notable  for  their  lavish  use  of  chromatics,  and  also  for  a 
lusty  sometimes  rough  liumor,  which  shows  his  keen 
sympathy  with  the  popular  currents  that  were  running 

172 


MEDIAEVAL   CHORUS  MUSIC 

strongly  in  the  learned  music  of  his  time.  Lassus  has 
more  significance  in  the  development  of  music  than 
Pales trina,  for  the  latter's  absorption  in  liturgic  duties 
kept  him  within  much  narrower  boundaries.  Pales- 
trina's  music  is  permeated  with  the  spirit  of  the  liturgic 
chant ;  that  of  Lassus  with  the  racier  quality  of  the 
folk-song.  Lassus,  although  his  religious  devotion  can- 
not be  questioned,  had  the  temper  of  a  citizen  of  the 
world ;  Palestrina  that  of  a  man  of  the  cloister.  Pales- 
trina's  music  reaches  a  height  of  ecstasy  which  Lassus 
never  approached;  the  latter  is  more  instructive  in 
respect  to  the  tendencies  of  the  time. 

Turning  again  to  the  analysis  of  the  sixteenth-century 
chorus  and  striving  to  penetrate  still  further  the  secret 
of  its  charm,  we  are  obliged  to  admit  that  it  is  not  its 
purely  musical  qualities  or  the  learning  and  cleverness 
dis[)layed  in  its  fabrication  that  will  account  for  its  long 
supremacy  or  for  the  enthusiasm  which  it  has  often 
excited  in  an  age  so  remote  as  our  own.  Its  aesthetic 
effect  can  never  be  quite  disentangled  from  the  impres- 
sions drawn  from  its  rehgious  and  historic  associations. 
Only  the  devout  Catholic  can  feel  its  full  import,  for  to 
him  it  shares  the  sanctity  of  the  liturgy,  —  it  is  not 
simply  ear-pleasing  harmony,  but  prayer ;  not  merely  a 
decoration  of  the  holy  ceremony,  but  an  integral  part  of 
the  sacrifice  of  praise  and  supplication.  And  among 
Protestants  those  who  eulogize  it  most  warmly  are 
those  whose  opinions  on  church  music  are  liturgical  and 
austere.  Given  in  a  concert  hall,  in  imi>lied  competition 
with  modern  chorus  music,  its  effect  is  feeble.  It  is  as 
rehgious  music  —  ritualistic  religious  music  —  identified 

173 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

with  what  is  most  solemn  and  suggestive  in  the  tradi- 
tions and  ordinances  of  an  ancient  faith,  that  this  anti- 
quated form  of  art  makes  its  appeal  to  modern  taste. 
No  other  phase  of  music  is  so  dependent  upon  its  setting. 

There  can  be  no  question  that  the  Catholic  Church 
has  always  endeavored,  albeit  with  a  great  deal  of  wav- 
ering and  inconsistency,  to  maintain  a  certain  ideal  or 
standard  in  respect  to  those  forms  of  art  which  she 
employs  in  her  work  of  education.  The  frequent  in- 
junctions of  popes,  prelates,  councils,  and  synods  for 
century  after  century  have  always  held  the  same 
tone  upon  this  question.  They  have  earnestly  re- 
minded their  followers  that  the  Church  recognizes  a 
positive  norm  or  canon  in  ecclesiastical  art,  that  there 
is  a  practical  distinction  between  ecclesiastic  art  and 
secular  art,  and  that  it  is  a  pious  duty  on  the  part  of 
churchmen  to  preserve  this  distinction  inviolate.  The 
Church,  however,  has  never  had  the  courage  of  this 
conviction.  As  J.  A.  Symonds  says,  she  has  always 
compromised ;  and  so  has  every  church  compromised. 
The  inroads  of  secular  styles  and  modes  of  expression 
have  always  been  irresistible  except  here  and  there  in 
very  limited  times  and  localities.  The  history  of  church 
art,  particularly  of  church  music,  is  the  history  of  the 
conflict  between  the  sacerdotal  conception  of  art  and 
the  popular  taste. 

What,  then,  is  the  theory  of  ecclesiastical  art  which 
the  heads  of  the  Catholic  Church  have  maintained  in 
precept  and  so  often  permitted  to  be  ignored  in  prac- 
tice? What  have  been  the  causes  and  tlie  results  of 
the  secularization  of  religious  art,  particularly  music? 

174 


MEDIEVAL   CHORUS  MUSIC 

These  questions  are  of  the  greatest  practical  interest 
to  the  student  of  church  music,  and  the  answers  to 
them  will  form  the  centre  around  which  all  tLat  I 
have  to  say  from  this  point  about  Catholic  music  will 
mainly  turn. 

The  strict  idea  of  religious  art,  as  it  has  always  stood 
more  or  less  distinctly  in  the  thought  of  the  Catholic 
Church,  is  that  it  exists  not  for  the  decoration  of  the 
ofl&ces  of  worship  (although  the  gratification  of  the 
senses  is  not  considered  unworthy  as  an  incidental  end), 
but  rather  for  edification,  instruction,  and  inspiration. 
As  stated  by  an  authoritative  Catholic  writer:  "No 
branch  of  art  exists  for  its  own  sake  alone.  Art  is  a 
servant,  and  it  serves  either  God  or  the  world,  the 
eternal  or  the  temporal,  the  spirit  or  the  flesh.  Eccle- 
siastical art  must  derive  its  rule  and  form  solely  from 
the  Church."  "  These  rules  and  determinations  [in 
respect  to  church  art]  are  by  no  means  arbitmiy,  no 
external  accretion ;  they  have  grown  up  organically 
from  within  outwaixl,  from  the  spirit  which  guides 
the  Church,  out  of  her  views  and  out  of  the  needs  of 
her  worship.  And  herein  lies  the  justification  of  her 
symbolism  and  emblematic  expression  in  ecclesiastical 
art  so  long  as  this  holds  itself  within  the  limits  of 
tradition.  The  church  of  stone  must  be  a  speaking 
manifestation  of  the  living  Church  and  her  mysteries. 
The  pictures  on  tlie  walls  and  on  the  altars  are  not 
mere  adornment  for  the  pleasure  of  the  eye,  but  for 
the  heart  a  book  full  of  instruction,  a  sermon  full  of 
truth.  And  hereby  art  is  raised  to  be  an  instrument 
of  edification  to  the   believer,  it  becomes  a   profound 

175 


MUSIC  IN   THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

expositor  for  thousands,  a  transmitter  and  preserver 
of  great  ideas  for  all  the  centuries."  ^  The  Catholic 
Church  in  her  art  would  subject  the  litej-al  to  the 
ideal,  the  particular  to  the  general,  the  definitive  to  the 
symbolic.  "  The  phrase  '  emancipation  of  the  individ- 
ual,' "  says  Jakob  again,  "  is  not  heard  in  the  Church. 
Art  history  teaches  that  the  Church  does  not  oppose 
the  individual  conception,  but  simply  restrains  that 
false  freedom  which  would  make  art  the  servant  of 
personal  caprice  or  of  fashion." 

The  truth  of  this  piinciple  as  a  fundamental  canon 
of  ecclesiastical  art  is  not  essentially  affected  by  the 
fact  that  it  is  only  in  certain  periods  and  under  fa- 
vorable conditions  that  it  has  been  strictly  enforced. 
Whenever  art  reaches  a  certain  point  in  development, 
individual  determination  invariably  succeeds  in  breaks 
ing  away  from  tradition.  The  attainment  of  technic, 
attended  by  the  inevitable  pride  in  technic,  liberates 
its  possessors.  The  spirit  of  the  Italian  religious  paint>- 
ers  of  the  fourteenth  and  early  fifteenth  centuries,  con- 
tent to  submit  their  skill  to  further  the  educational 
purposes  of  the  Church,  could  no  longer  persist  in 
connection  with  the  growing  delight  in  new  technical 
problems  and  the  vision  of  the  new  fields  open  to  art 
when  face  to  face  with  reality.  The  conventional  treat- 
ment of  the  Alemmis  and  Fra  Angelicos  was  followed 
by  the  naturalistic  representation  of  the  Raphaels,  the 
Da  Vincis,  and  the  Titians.  The  same  result  has  fol- 
lowed where  pure  art  has  decayed,  or  where  no  real 
appreciation  of  art  ever  existed.     The  stage  of  church 

1  Jakob,  Die  Kunst  im  Dienste  der  Kirche. 
176 


MEDIAEVAL  CHORUS  MUSIC 

art  in  its  purest  and  most  edifying  form  is,  therefore, 
only  temporary.  It  exists  in  the  adolescent  period  of 
an  art,  before  the  achievement  of  technical  skill  arouses 
desire  for  its  unhampered  exercise,  and  when  religious 
ideas  are  at  the  same  time  dominant  and  pervasive. 
Neither  is  doubt  to  be  cast  upon  the  sincerity  of  the 
religious  motive  in  this  phase  of  art  growth  when  we 
discover  that  its  technical  methods  are  identical  with 
those  of  secular  art  at  the  same  period.  In  fact,  this 
general  and  conventional  style  which  the  Church  finds 
suited  to  her  ends  is  most  truly  characteristic  when 
the  artists  have  virtually  no  choice  in  their  methods. 
The  motive  of  the  Gothic  cathedral  builders  was  no 
less  religious  because  their  modes  of  construction  and 
decoration  were  also  common  to  the  civic  and  domestic 
architecture  of  the  time.  A  distinctive  ecclesiastical 
style  has  never  developed  in  rivalry  with  contemporary 
tendencies  in  secular  art,  but  only  in  unison  with  them. 
Tlie  historic  church  styles  are  also  secular  styles,  car- 
ried to  the  highest  practicable  degree  of  refinement  and 
splendor.  These  styles  persist  in  the  Church  after  they 
have  disappeared  in  the  mutations  of  secular  art;  they 
become  sanctified  by  time  and  by  tlie  awe  which  the 
claim  of  supernatural  commission  inspires,  and  the 
world  at  last  comes  to  think  of  them  as  inherently 
rather  than  conventionally  religious. 

All  these  principles  must  be  applied  to  the  sixteenth- 
century  a  capella  music.  In  fact,  there  is  no  better  illus- 
tration ;  its  meaning  and  effect  cannot  be  otherwise 
understood.  Growing  up  under  what  seem  perfectly  nat- 
ural conditions,  patronized  by  the  laity  as  well  as  by  the 
12  177 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

clergy,  this  highly  organized,  severe,  and  impersonal  style 
was  seen,  even  before  the  period  of  its  maturity,  to  con- 
form to  the  ideal  of  liturgic  art  cherished  by  the  Church ; 
and  now  that  it  has  become  completely  isolated  in  the 
march  of  musical  progress,  this  conformity  appears  even 
more  obvious  under  contrast.  No  other  form  of  chorus 
music  has  existed  so  objective  and  impersonal,  so  free  from 
the  stress  and  stir  of  passion,  so  plainly  reflecting  an 
exalted  spiritualized  state  of  feeling.  This  music  is 
singularly  adapted  to  reinforce  the  impression  of  the 
Catholic  mysteries  by  reason  of  its  technical  form  and 
its  pecuhar  emotional  appeal.  The  devotional  mood  that 
is  especially  nurtured  by  the  Cathohc  religious  exercises 
is  absorbed  and  mystical;  the  devotee  strives  to  with- 
draw into  a  retreat  within  the  inner  shrine  of  religious 
contemplation,  where  no  echoes  of  the  world  reverberate, 
and  where  the  soul  may  be  thrilled  by  the  tremulous 
ecstasy  of  half-unveiled  heavenly  glory.  It  is  the  con- 
sciousness of  the  nearness  and  reality  of  the  unseen 
world  that  lends  such  a  delicate  and  reserved  beauty  to 
those  creations  of  Catholic  genius  in  which  this  ideal  has 
been  most  directly  symbolized.  Of  this  cloistral  mood 
the  church  music  of  the  Palestrina  age  is  the  most  subtle 
and  suggestive  embodiment  ever  realized  in  art.  It  is  as 
far  as  possible  removed  from  profane  suggestion ;  in  its 
ineffable  calmness,  and  an  indescribable  tone  of  chastened 
exultation,  pure  from  every  trace  of  struggle,  with  which 
it  vibrates,  it  is  the  most  adequate  emblem  of  that  eternal 
repose  toward  which  the  believer  yearns. 

It  is  not  true,  however,  as  often  alleged,  that  this  form 
of  music  altogether  lacks  characterization,  and  that  the 

178 


MEDIEVAL   CHORUS  MUSIC 

style  of  Kyrie,  Gloria,  Crucifixus,  Resurrexit,  and  of  the 
motets  and  hymns  whatever  their  subject,  is  always 
the  same.  The  old  masters  were  artists  as  well  as  church- 
men, and  knew  how  to  adapt  their  somewhat  unrespon- 
sive material  to  the  more  obvious  contrasts  of  the  text; 
and  in  actual  performance  a  much  wider  latitude  in 
respect  to  nuance  and  change  of  speed  was  permitted  than 
could  be  indicated  in  the  score.  We  know,  also,  that  the 
choristers  were  allowed  great  license  in  the  use  of  embel- 
lishments, more  or  less  florid,  upon  the  written  notes, 
sometimes  improvised,  sometimes  carefully  invented, 
taught  and  handed  down  as  a  prescribed  code,  the  tradi- 
tion of  which,  in  all  but  a  few  instances,  has  been  lost. 
But  the  very  laws  of  the  Gregorian  modes  and  the  strict 
contrapuntal  system  kept  such  excursions  after  expression 
within  narrow  bounds,  and  the  traditional  view  of  eccle- 
siastical art  forbade  anything  like  a  drastic  descriptive 
literalism. 

This  mediaeval  polyphonic  music,  although  the  most 
complete  example  in  art  of  the  perfect  adaptation  of 
means  to  a  particular  end,  could  not  long  maintain  its 
exclusive  prestige.  It  must  be  supplanted  by  a  new  style 
as  soon  as  the  transformed  secular  music  was  strong 
enough  to  react  upon  the  Church.  It  was  found  that 
a  devotional  experience  that  was  not  far  removed 
from  spiritual  trance,  which  was  all  that  the  old  music 
could  express,  was  not  the  only  mental  attitude  admis- 
sible in  worship.  I'ht;  new-born  art  strove  to  give  more 
apt  and  detailed  expression  to  the  words,  and  why  should 
not  this  permission  be  granted  to  churcli  music  ?  The 
musical  revolution  of  the  seventeenth  century  involved 

179 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

the  development  of  an  art  of  solo  singing  and  its  suprem- 
acy over  the  chorus,  the  substitution  of  the  modern 
major  and  minor  transposing  scales  for  the  Gregorian 
modal  system,  a  homophonic  method  of  harmony  for  the 
medicBval  polyphony,  accompanied  music  for  the  a  ca- 
pella,  secular  and  dramatic  for  religious  music,  the  rise 
of  instrumental  music  as  an  independent  art,  the  transfer 
of  patronage  from  the  Church  to  the  aristocracy  and  ulti- 
mately to  the  common  people.  All  the  modern  forms, 
both  vocal  and  instrumental,  which  have  come  to  matur- 
ity in  recent  times  suddenly  appeared  in  embryo  at  the 
close  of  the  sixteenth  or  early  in  the  seventeenth  century. 
The  ancient  style  of  ecclesiastical  music  did  not  indeed 
come  to  a  standstill.  The  grand  old  forms  continued  to 
be  cultivated  by  men  who  were  proud  to  wear  the  mantle 
of  Palestrina;  and  in  the  eighteenth  and  nineteenth 
centuries  the  traditions  of  the  Roman  and  Venetian  schools 
of  church  music  have  had  sufficient  vitality  to  inspire 
works  not  unworthy  of  comparison  vnth  their  venerable 
models.  The  strains  of  these  later  disciples,  however, 
are  but  scanty  reverberations  of  the  multitudinous 
voices  of  the  past.  The  instrumental  mass  and  motet, 
embellished  with  all  the  newly  discovered  appliances 
of  melody,  harmony,  rhythm,  and  tone  color,  led  the 
art  of  the  Church  with  flying  banners  into  wider 
regions  of  conquest,  and  the  a  capella  contrapuntal 
chorus  was  left  behind,  a  stately  monument  upon  the 
receding  shores  of  the  Middle  Age. 

[^NoTE.  A  very  important  agent  in  stimulating  a  revival  of  interest  in 
the  mediaeval  polyphonic  school  is  the  St.  Cecilia  Society,  which  was 
founded  at  Regensburg  in  1 868  by  Dr.  Franz  Xaver  Witt,  a  devoted  prieat 

180 


MEDIEVAL   CHORUS  MUSIC 

and  learned  musician,  for  the  purpose  of  restoring  a  more  perfect  relation 
between  music  and  the  liturgy  and  erecting  a  barrier  against  the  intrusion 
of  dranaatic  and  virtuoso  tendencies.  Flourishing  branches  of  this  society 
exist  in  many  of  the  chief  church  centres  of  Europe  aud  America.  It  is 
the  patron  of  schools  of  music,  it  has  issued  periodicals,  books,  and 
musical  compositions,  and  has  shown  mucii  vigor  in  making  propaganda  for 
its  views. 

Not  less  intelligent  and  earnest  is  the  Schola  Cantorum  of  Paris,  which 
is  exerting  a  strong  influence  upon  church  music  in  the  PVench  capital  and 
thence  throughout  the  world  by  means  of  musical  performances,  editions 
of  musical  works,  lectures,  and  publications  of  books  and  e88ays.3 


181 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE   MODERN   MUSICAL   MASS 

To  one  who  is  accustomed  to  study  the  history  of  art 
in  the  light  of  the  law  of  evolution,  the  contnist  between 
the  reigning  modern  style  of  Catholic  church  music 
and  that  of  the  Middle  Age  seems  at  first  sight  very 
difficult  of  explanation.  The  growth  of  the  a  capella 
chorus,  which  reached  its  perfection  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  may  be  traced  through  a  steady  process  of 
development,  every  step  of  which  was  a  logical  conse- 
quence of  some  prior  invention.  But  as  we  pass  on- 
ward into  the  succeeding  age  and  look  for  a  form  of 
Catholic  music  which  may  be  taken  as  the  natural 
offspring  and  successor  of  the  venerable  mediaeval  style, 
we  find  what  appears  to  be  a  break  in  the  line  of  con- 
tinuity. The  ancient  form  maintains  its  existence 
throughout  the  seventeenth  century  and  a  portion  of 
the  eighteenth,  but  it  is  slowly  crowded  to  one  side  and 
at  last  driven  from  the  field  altogether  by  a  style  which, 
if  we  search  in  the  field  of  church  art  alone,  appears  to 
have  no  antecedent.  The  new  style  is  opposed  to  the 
old  in  every  particular.  Instead  of  forms  that  are  poly- 
phonic in  structure,  vague  and  indefinite  in  plan,  based 
on  an  antique  key  system,  the  new  compositions  are 
homophonic,  definite,  and  sectional  in  plan,  revealing  an 

182 


THE  MODERN  MUSICAL    MASS 

entirely  novel  principle  of  tonality,  containing  vocal 
solos  as  well  as  choruses,  and  supported  by  a  free  instru- 
mental accompaniment.  These  two  contrasted  phases 
of  religious  music  seem  to  have  nothing  in  common  so 
i'ar  as  technical  organization  is  concerned,  and  it  is  per- 
fectly evident  that  the  younger  style  could  not  have 
been  evolved  out  of  the  elder.  Hardly  less  divergent 
are  they  in  respect  to  ideal  of  expression,  the  ancient 
style  never  departing  from  a  moderate,  unimpassioned 
uniformity,  the  modern  abounding  in  variety  and  con- 
trast, and  continually  striving  after  a  sort  of  dramatic 
portrayal  of  moods.  To  a  representative  of  the  old 
school,  this  florid  accompanied  style  would  seem  like  an 
intruder  from  quite  an  alien  sphere  of  experience,  and 
the  wonder  grows  when  we  discover  that  it  sprung  from 
the  same  national  soil  as  that  in  which  its  predecessor 
ripened,  and  was  likewise  cherished  by  an  institution 
that  has  made  immutability  in  all  essentials  a  cardinal 
principle.  Whence  came  the  impulse  that  effected  so 
sweeping  a  change  in  a  great  historic  form  of  art, 
where  we  might  expect  that  liturgic  necessities  and 
ecclesiastical  tradition  would  decree  a  tenacious  con- 
servatism ?  What  new  conception  had  seized  upon  the 
human  mind  so  powerful  that  it  could  even  revolution- 
ize a  large  share  of  the  musical  system  of  the  Catholic 
Church?  Had  there  been  a  long  preparation  for  a 
change  that  seems  so  sudden  ?  Were  there  causes 
working  under  the  surface,  antecedent  stages,  such 
that  the  violation  of  the  law  of  continuity  is  apparent 
only,  and  not  real  ?  These  questions  are  easily  answered 
if  we  abandon  the  useless  attempt  to  find  the  parentage 

183 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

of  the  modern  church  style  in  the  ritual  music  of  the 
previous  period ;  and  by  surveying  all  the  musical  condi- 
tions of  the  age  we  shall  quickly  discover  that  it  was  an 
intrusion  into  the  Church  of  musical  methods  that  were 
fostered  under  purely  secular  auspices.  The  Gregorian 
chant  and  the  mediseval  a  capella  chorus  were  born  and 
nurtured  within  the  fold  of  the  Church,  growing  di- 
rectly out  of  the  necessity  of  adapting  musical  cadences 
to  the  rhythmical  phrases  of  the  liturgy.  The  modern 
sectional  and  florid  style,  on  the  contrary,  was  an  addi- 
tion from  without,  and  was  not  introduced  in  response 
to  any  liturgic  demands  whatever.  In  origin  and 
affiliations  it  was  a  secular  style,  adopted  by  the  Church 
under  a  necessity  which  she  eventually  strove  to  turn 
into  a  virtue. 

This  violent  reversal  of  the  traditions  of  Catholic 
music  was  simply  a  detail  of  that  universal  revolution 
in  musical  practice  and  ideal  which  marked  the  passage 
from  the  sixteenth  century  to  the  seventeenth.  The 
learned  music  of  Europe  had  been  for  centuries  almost 
exclusively  in  the  care  of  ecclesiastical  and  princely 
chapels,  and  its  practitioners  held  offices  that  were 
primarily  clerical.  The  professional  musicians,  ab- 
sorbed in  churchly  functions,  had  gone  on  adding 
masses  to  masses,  motets  to  motets,  and  hymns  to 
hymns,  until  the  Church  had  accumulated  a  store  of 
sacred  song  so  vast  that  it  remains  the  admiration  and 
despair  of  modern  scholars.  These  works,  although 
exhibiting  every  stage  of  construction  from  the  simplest 
to  the  most  intricate,  were  all  framed  in  accordance 
with  principles  derived  from  the  mediaeval  conception 

184 


THE   MODERN  MUSICAL  MASS 

of  melodic  combination.  The  secular  songs  which 
these  same  composers  produced  in  great  numbers,  not- 
withstanding their  greater  flexibility  and  lightness  of 
touch,  were  also  written  for  chorus,  usually  unaccom- 
panied, and  were  theoretically  constructed  according  to 
the  same  system  as  the  church  pieces.  Nothing  like 
operas  or  symphonies  existed  ;  there  were  no  orchestras 
worthy  of  the  name  ;  pianoforte,  violin,  and  organ  play- 
ing, in  the  modern  sense,  had  not  been  dreamed  of ;  solo 
singing  was  in  its  helpless  infancy.  When  we  consider, 
in  the  light  of  our  present  experience,  how  large  a 
range  of  emotion  that  naturally  utters  itself  in  tone  was 
left  unrepresented  through  this  lack  of  a  proper  secular 
art  of  music,  we  can  understand  the  urgency  of  the 
demand  which,  at  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
broke  down  the  barriers  that  hemmed  in  the  currents 
of  musical  production  and  swept  music  out  into  the  vast 
area  of  universal  human  interests.  The  spirit  of  the 
Renaissance  had  led  forth  all  other  art  forms  to  share 
in  the  multifarious  activities  and  joys  of  modern  life  at 
a  time  when  music  was  still  the  satisfied  inmate  of  the 
cloister.  But  it  was  impossible  that  music  also  should 
not  sooner  or  later  feel  the  transfiguring  touch  of  the 
new  human  impulse.  The  placid,  austere  expression  of 
the  clerical  style,  the  indefinite  forms,  the  Gregorian 
modes  precluding  free  dissonance  and  regulated  chro- 
matic change,  were  incapable  of  rendering  more  than 
one  order  of  ideas.  A  completely  novel  system  must  be 
forthcoming,  or  music  must  confess  its  impotence  to 
enter  into  the  fuller  emotional  life  which  had  lately 
been  revealed  to  mankind. 

185 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

The  genius  of  Italy  was  equal  to  the  demand.  Usually 
when  any  form  of  art  becomes  complete  a  period  of 
degeneracy  follows ;  artists  become  mere  imitators,  in- 
spiration and  creative  power  die  out,  the  art  becomes  a 
handicraft;  new  growth  appears  only  in  another  period 
or  another  nation,  and  under  altogether  different  auspices. 
Such  would  perhaps  have  been  the  case  with  church 
music  in  Italy  if  a  method  diametrically  opposed  to  that 
which  had  so  long  prevailed  in  the  Church  had  not 
inaugurated  a  new  school  and  finally  extended  its  con- 
quest into  the  venerable  precincts  of  the  Church  itself. 
The  opera  and  instrumental  music  —  the  two  currents 
into  which  secular  music  divided  —  sprang  up,  as  from 
hidden  fountains,  right  beside  the  old  forms  which  were 
even  then  just  attaining  their  full  glory,  as  if  to  show 
that  the  Italian  musical  genius  so  abounded  in  energy 
that  it  could  never  undergo  decay,  but  when  it  had  gone 
to  its  utmost  limits  in  one  direction  could  instantly 
strike  out  in  another  still  more  brilliant  and  productive. 

The  invention  of  the  opera  about  the  year  1600  is 
usually  looked  upon  as  the  event  of  paramount  im- 
portance in  the  transition  period  of  modern  music  history, 
yet  it  was  only  the  most  striking  symptom  of  a  radical, 
sweeping  tendency.  Tliroughout  the  greater  part  of  the 
sixteenth  century  a  search  had  been  in  progress  after  a 
style  of  music  suited  to  the  solo  voice,  which  could  lend 
itself  to  the  portrayal  of  the  change  and  development  of 
emotion  involved  in  dramatic  representation.  The  folk- 
song, which  is  only  suited  to  the  expression  of  a  single 
simple  frame  of  mind,  was  of  course  inadequate.  The 
old  church  music  was  admirably  adapted  to  the  expres* 

186 


THE  MODERN  MUSICAL   MASS 

sion  of  the  consciousness  of  man  in  his  relations  to  the 
divine  —  what  was  wanted  was  a  means  of  expressing 
the  emotions  of  man  in  his  relations  to  his  fellow-men. 
Lyric  and  dramatic  poetry  flourished,  but  no  proper  lyric 
or  dramatic  music.  The  Renaissance  liad  done  its 
mighty  work  in  all  other  fields  of  art,  but  so  far  as  music 
was  concerned  in  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries 
a  Renaissance  did  not  exist.  Many  reasons  might  be 
given  why  the  spirit  of  the  Renaissance  had  no  appre- 
ciable effect  in  the  musical  world  until  late  in  the  six- 
teenth century.  Musical  forms  are  purely  subjective  in 
their  conception ;  they  find  no  models  or  even  sugges- 
tions in  the  natural  world,  and  the  difficulty  of  choosing 
the  most  satisfactory  arrangements  of  tones  out  of  an  al- 
most endless  number  of  possible  combinations,  together 
with  the  necessity  of  constantly  new  adjustments  of  the 
mind  in  order  to  appreciate  the  value  of  the  very  forms 
which  itself  creates,  makes  musical  development  a  mat- 
ter of  peculiar  slowness  and  difficulty.  The  enthusiasm 
for  the  antique,  which  gave  a  definite  direction  to  the 
revival  of  learning  and  the  new  ambitions  in  painting 
and  sculpture,  could  have  little  practical  value  in  musi- 
cal invention,  since  the  ancient  music,  which  would 
otherwise  have  been  chosen  as  a  guide,  had  been  com- 
pletely lost.  The  craving  for  a  style  of  solo  singing 
suited  to  dramatic  purposes  tried  to  find  satisfaction  by 
means  that  were  cliildishly  insufficient.  Imitations  of 
folk-songs,  the  device  of  singing  one  part  in  a  madrigal, 
while  the  other  parts  were  played  by  instruments,  were 
some  of  the  futile  efforts  to  solve  the  problem.  The 
sense   of   disappointment   broke   forth   in  bitter   wrath 

187 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

against  the  church  counterpoint,  and  a  violent  conflict 
raged  between  the  bewildered  experimenters  and  the 
adlierents  of  the  scholastic  methods. 

The  discovery  that  was  to  satisfy  the  longings  of  a 
century  and  create  a  new  art  was  made  in  Florence. 
About  the  year  1580  a  circle  of  scholars,  musicians,  and 
amateurs  began  to  hold  meetings  at  the  house  of  a 
certain  Count  Bardi,  where  they  discussed,  among  other 
learned  questions,  the  nature  of  the  music  of  the  Greeks, 
and  the  possibility  of  its  restoration.  Theorizing  was 
supplemented  by  experiment,  and  at  last  Vincenzo 
Galilei,  followed  by  Giulio  Caccini,  hit  upon  a  mode  of 
musical  declamation,  half  speecli  and  half  song,  which 
was  enthusiastically  hailed  as  the  long-lost  style  employed 
in  the  Athenian  drama.  A  somewhat  freer  and  more 
melodious  manner  was  also  admitted  in  alternation  with 
the  dry,  formless  recitation,  and  these  two  related 
methods  were  employed  in  the  performance  of  short 
lyric,  half-dramatic  monologues.  Such  were  the  Mono- 
dies of  Galilei  and  the  Nuove  Musiche  of  Caccini. 
More  ambitious  schemes  followed.  Mythological  mas- 
querades and  pastoral  comedies,  which  had  held  a  promi- 
nent place  in  the  gorgeous  spectacles  and  pageants  of 
the  Italian  court  festivals  ever  since  the  thirteenth 
century,  were  provided  with  settings  of  the  new  declam- 
atory music,  or  stile  recitativo,  and  behold,  the  opera 
was  born. 

The  Florentine  inventors  of  dramatic  music  builded 
better  than  they  knew.  They  had  no  thought  of  setting 
music  free  upon  a  new  and  higher  flight ;  they  never 
dreamed  of  the  consequences  of  releasing  melody  from 

188 


THE  MODERN  MUSICAL  MASS 

the  fetters  of  counterpoint.  Their  sole  intention  was 
to  make  poetry  more  expressive  and  emphatic  by  the 
employment  of  tones  that  would  heighten  the  natural 
inflections  of  speech,  and  in  which  there  should  be  no 
repetition  or  extension  of  words  (as  in  the  contrapuntal 
style)  involving  a  subordination  of  text  to  musical 
form.  The  ideal  of  recitative  was  the  expression  of 
feeling  by  a  method  that  permits  the  text  to  follow  the 
natural  accent  of  declamatory  speech,  unrestrained  by  a 
particular  musical  form  or  tonality,  and  dependent  only 
upon  the  support  of  the  simplest  kind  of  instrumental 
accompaniment.  In  this  style  of  music,  said  Caccini, 
speech  is  of  the  first  importance,  rhythm  second,  and 
tone  last  of  all.  These  pioneers  of  dramatic  music,  as 
they  declared  over  and  over  again,  simply  desired  a  form 
of  music  that  should  allow  the  words  to  be  distinctly 
understood.  They  condemned  counterpoint,  not  on 
musical  grounds,  but  because  it  allowed  the  text  to  be 
obscured  and  the  natural  rhythm  broken.  There  was  no 
promise  of  a  new  musical  era  in  such  an  anti-musical 
pronunciamento  as  this.  But  a  relation  between  music 
and  poetry  in  which  melody  renounces  all  its  inherent 
rights  could  not  long  be  maintained.  The  genius  of 
Italy  in  the  seventeenth  century  was  musical,  not  poetic. 
Just  so  soon  as  the  infinite  possibilities  of  charm  that 
lie  in  free  melody  were  once  perceived,  no  theories  of 
Platonizing  pedants  could  check  its  progress.  The 
demands  of  the  new  age,  reinforced  by  the  special 
Italian  gift  of  melody,  created  an  art  form  in  which 
absolute  music  triumphed  over  the  feebler  claims  of 
poetry  and  rhetoric.      The  cold,  calculated   Florentine 

189 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN   CHURCH 

music-drama  gave  way  to  the  vivacious,  impassioned 
opera  of  Venice  and  Naples.  Although  the  prmiitive 
dry  recitative  survived,  the  far  more  expressive  accom- 
panied recitative  was  evolved  from  it,  and  the  grand 
aria  burst  into  radiant  life  out  of  the  brief  lyrical  sections 
which  the  Florentines  had  allowed  to  creep  into  their 
tedious  declamatory  scenes.  Vocal  colorature,  which 
had  already  appeared  in  the  dramatic  pieces  of  Caccini, 
became  the  most  beloved  means  of  effect.  The  little 
group  of  simple  instruments  employed  in  the  first 
Florentine  music-dramas  was  gradually  merged  in  the 
modern  full  orchestra.  The  original  notion  of  making 
the  poetic  and  scenic  intention  paramount  was  forgotten, 
and  the  opera  became  cultivated  solely  as  a  means  for 
the  display  of  all  the  fascinations  of  vocalism. 

Thus  a  new  motive  took  complete  possession  of  the 
art  of  music.  By  virtue  of  the  new  powers  revealed  to 
them,  composers  would  now  strive  to  enter  all  the 
secret  precincts  of  the  soul  and  give  a  voice  to  every 
emotion,  simple  or  complex,  called  forth  by  solitary 
meditation  or  by  situations  of  dramatic  stress  and  con- 
flict. Music,  like  painting  and  poetry,  should  now 
occupy  the  whole  world  of  human  experience.  The 
stupendous  achievements  of  the  tonal  art  of  the  past 
two  centuries  are  the  outcome  of  this  revolutionary 
impulse.  But  not  at  once  could  music  administer  the 
whole  of  her  new  possession.  She  must  pass  through 
a  course  of  training  in  technic,  to  a  certain  extent  as 
she  had  done  in  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries, 
but  under  far  more  favorable  conditions  and  quite  differ- 
ent circumstances.     The  shallowness  of  the  greater  part 

190 


THE  MODERN  MUSICAL  MASS 

of  the  music  of  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries 
is  partly  due  to  the  difficulty  that  composers  found  in 
mastering  the  new  forms.  A  facility  in  handling  the 
material  must  be  acquired  before  there  could  be  any 
clear  consciousness  of  the  possibilities  of  expression 
which  the  new  forms  contained.  The  fii-st  problem  in 
vocal  music  was  the  development  of  a  method  of  technic ; 
and  musical  taste,  fascinated  by  the  new  sensation,  ran 
into  an  extravagant  worship  of  the  human  voice.  There 
appeared  in  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries 
the  most  brilliant  group  of  singers,  of  both  sexes,  that 
the  world  has  ever  seen.  The  full  extent  of  the  morbid, 
we  might  almost  say  the  insane,  passion  for  sensuous, 
nerve-exciting  tone  is  sufficiently  indicated  by  the  en- 
couragement in  theatre  and  church  of  those  outrages 
upon  nature,  the  male  soprano  and  alto.  A  school  of 
composers  of  brilliant  melodic  genius  appeared  in  Italy, 
France,  and  Germany,  who  supplied  these  singers  with 
showy  and  pathetic  music  precisely  suited  to  their  pecu- 
liar powers.  Italian  melody  and  Italian  vocalism  be- 
came the  reigning  sensation  in  European  society,  and 
the  opera  easily  took  the  primacy  among  fashionable 
amusements.  The  Italian  grand  opera,  with  its  solemn 
travesty  of  antique  characters  and  scenes,  its  mock 
heroics,  its  stilted  conventionalities,  its  di-amatic  feeble- 
ness and  vocal  glitter,  was  a  lively  reflection  of  the 
taste  of  tliis  age  of  "  gallant  "  poetry,  rococo  decoration, 
and  social  artificiality.  The  musical  element  consisted 
of  a  succession  of  arias  and  duets  stitched  together  bv 
a  loose  thread  of  secco  recitative.  Tlie  costumes  werb 
those  of  contemporary  fashion,  although  the  characters 

191 


MUSIC  IN   THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

were  named  after  worthies  of  ancient  Greece  and  Rome. 
The  plots  were  in  no  sense  historic,  but  consisted  of 
love  tales  and  conspiracies  concocted  by  the  playwright. 
Truth  to  human  nature  and  to  locality  was  left  to  the 
despised  comic  opera.  Yet  we  must  not  suppose  that 
the  devotees  of  this  music  were  conscious  of  its  real 
superficiality.  They  adored  it  not  wholly  because  it  was 
sensational,  but  because  they  believed  it  true  in  expres- 
sion ;  and  indeed  it  was  true  to  those  light  and  transient 
sentiments  which  the  voluptuaries  of  the  theatre  mis- 
took for  the  throbs  of  nature.  Tender  and  pathetic 
these  airs  often  were,  but  it  was  the  affected  tenderness 
and  pathos  of  fashionable  eighteenth-century  literature 
which  they  represented.  To  the  profounder  insight  of 
the  present  they  seem  to  express  nothing  deeper  than 
the  make-believe  emotions  of  children  at  their  play. 

Under  such  sanctions  the  Italian  grand  aria  became 
the  dominant  form  of  melody.  Not  the  appeal  to  the 
intellect  and  the  genuine  experiences  of  the  heart  was 
required  of  the  musical  performer,  but  rather  brilliancy 
of  technic  and  seductiveness  of  tone.  Ephemeral  nerve 
excitement,  incessant  novelty  within  certain  conventional 
bounds,  were  the  demands  laid  by  the  public  upon  com- 
poser and  singer.  The  office  of  the  poet  became  hardly 
less  mechanical  than  that  of  the  costumer  or  the  deco- 
rator. Composers,  with  a  few  exceptions,  yielded  to 
the  prevailing  fashion,  and  musical  dramatic  art  lent 
itself  chiefly  to  the  portrayal  of  stereotyped  sentiments 
and  the  gratification  of  the  sense.  I  would  not  be 
anderstood  as  denying  the  germ  of  truth  that  lay  in 
this   art  element  contributed   by  Italy  to   the   modern 

192 


THE  MODERN  MUSICAL  MASS 

•world.  Its  later  results  were  sublime  and  beneficent, 
for  Italian  melody  has  given  direction  to  well-nigh  all 
the  magnificent  achievements  of  secular  music  in  the 
past  two  centuries.  I  am  speaking  here  of  the  first 
outcome  of  the  infatuation  it  produced,  in  the  breaking 
down  of  the  taste  for  the  severe  and  elevated,  and  the  pro- 
duction of  a  transient,  often  demoralizing  intoxication. 

It  was  not  long  before  the  charming  Italian  melody- 
undertook  the  conquest  of  the  Church.  The  popular 
demand  for  melody  and  solo  singing  overcame  the  aus- 
tere traditions  of  ecclesiastical  song.  The  dramatic  and 
concert  style  invaded  the  choir  gallery.  The  personnel 
of  the  choirs  was  altered,  and  women,  sometimes  male 
sopranos  and  altos,  took  the  place  of  boys.  The  prima 
donna,  with  her  trills  and  runs,  made  the  choir  gallery 
the  parade  ground  for  her  arts  of  fascination.  The 
chorus  declined  in  favor  of  the  solo,  and  the  church  aria 
vied  with  the  opera  aria  in  bravura  and  languishing 
pathos.  Where  the  chorus  was  retained  in  mass,  motet, 
or  hymn,  it  abandoned  the  close-knit  contrapuntal  text- 
ure in  favor  of  a  simple  homophonic  structure,  with 
strongly  marked  rhythmical  movement.  The  orchestral 
accompaniment  also  lent  to  the  composition  a  vivid 
dramatic  coloring,  and  brilliant  solos  for  violins  and 
flutes  seemed  often  to  convert  the  sanctuary  into  a 
concert  hall.  All  this  was  inevitiible,  for  the  Catholic 
musicians  of  the  seventeenth  and  eigliteenth  centuries 
were  artists  as  well  as  churchmen ;  they  shared  the 
aesthetic  convictions  of  their  time,  and  could  not  be 
expected  to  forego  the  opportunities  for  effect  which 
the  new  methods  put  into  their  hands.  They  were 
13  193 


MUSIC  IN   THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

no  longer  dependent  upon  the  Church  for  commissions ; 
the  opera  house  and  the  salon  gave  them  sure  means 
of  subsistence  and  fame.  The  functions  of  church  and 
theatre  composers  were  often  united  in  a  single  man. 
The  convents  and  cathedral  chapels  were  made  training- 
schools  for  the  choir  and  the  opera  stage  on  equal 
terms.  It  was  in  a  monk's  cell  that  Bernacchi  and 
other  world-famous  opera  singers  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury were  educated.  Ecclesiastics  united  with  aristo- 
cratic laymen  in  the  patronage  of  the  opera ;  caixlinals 
and  archbishops  owned  theatre  boxes,  and  it  was  not 
considered  in  the  least  out  of  character  for  monks  and 
priests  to  write  operas  and  superintend  their  perform- 
ance. Under  such  conditions  it  is  not  strange  that 
church  and  theatre  reacted  upon  each  other,  and  that 
the  sentimental  style,  beloved  in  opera  house  and  salon, 
should  at  last  be  accepted  as  the  proper  vehicle  of 
devotional   feeling. 

In  this  adornment  of  the  liturgy  in  theatrical  costume 
we  find  a  singular  parallel  between  the  history  of  church 
music  in  the  transition  period  and  that  of  religious 
painting  in  the  period  of  the  Renaissance.  Pictorial 
art  had  first  to  give  concrete  expression  to  the  concep- 
tions evolved  under  the  influence  of  Christianity,  and 
since  the  whole  intent  of  the  pious  discipline  was  to 
turn  the  thought  away  from  actual  mundane  experience, 
art  avoided  the  representation  of  ideal  physical  loveliness 
on  the  one  hand  and  a  scientific  historical  correctness 
on  the  other.  Hence  arose  the  naive,  emblematic  pict- 
ures of  the  fourteenth  century,  whose  main  endeavor  was 
to  attract  and  indoctrinate  with  delineations  that  were 

194 


THE   MODERN  MUSICAL   MASS 

symbolic  and  intended  mainly  for  edification.  Painting 
was  one  of  the  chief  means  employed  by  the  Church 
to  impart  instruction  to  a  constituency  to  whom  writing 
was  almost  inaccessible.  Art,  therefore,  even  when 
emancipated  from  Byzantine  formalism,  was  still  essen- 
tially hieratic,  and  the  painter  willingly  assumed  a  semi- 
sacerdotal  office  as  the  efficient  coadjutor  of  the  preacher 
and  the  confessor.  With  the  fifteenth  century  came 
the  inrush  of  the  antique  culture,  uniting  with  native 
Italian  tendencies  to  sweep  art  away  into  a  passionate 
quest  of  beauty  wherever  it  might  be  found.  The  con- 
ventional religious  subjects  and  the  traditional  modes  of 
treatment  could  no  longer  satisfy  those  whose  eyes  had 
been  opened  to  the  magnificent  materials  for  artistic 
treatment  that  lay  in  the  human  form,  draped  and 
undraped,  in  landscape,  atmosphere,  color,  and  light  and 
shade,  and  who  had  been  taught  by  the  individualistic 
trend  of  the  age  that  the  painter  is  true  to  his  genius 
only  as  he  frees  himself  from  formulas  and  follows  the 
leadings  of  his  own  instincts.  But  art  could  not  wholly 
renounce  its  original  pious  mission.  The  age  was  at 
least  nominally  Christian,  sincerely  so  in  many  of  its 
elements,  and  the  patronage  of  the  arts  was  still  to  a 
very  large  extent  in  the  hands  of  the  clergy.  And  here 
the  Church  prudently  consented  to  a  modification  of  the 
established  ideals  of  treatment  of  sacred  themes.  The 
native  Italian  love  of  elegance  of  outline,  harmony  of 
form,  and  splendor  of  color,  directed  by  the  study  of  the 
antique,  overcame  the  earlier  austerity  and  effected  a 
combination  of  Christian  tradition  and  pagan  sensuous- 
ness  which,  in  such  work  as  that  of  Correggio  and  the 

19$ 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

great  Venetians,  and  even  at  times  in  the  pure  Raphael 
and  the  stern  Michael  Angelo,  quite  belied  the  purpose 
of  ecclesiastical  art,  aiming  not  to  fortify  dogma  and 
elevate  the  spirit,  but  to  gratify  the  desire  of  the  eye 
and  the  delight  in  the  display  of  technical  skill.  Paint- 
ing no  longer  conformed  to  a  traditional  religious  type ; 
it  followed  its  genius,  and  that  genius  was  really  in- 
spired by  the  splendors  of  earth,  however  much  it  might 
persuade  itself  that  it  ministered  to  holiness. 

A  noted  example  of  this  self-deception,  although  an 
extreme  one,  is  the  picture  entitled  *'  The  Marriage  at 
Cana,"  by  Paolo  Veronese.  Christ  is  the  central  figure, 
but  his  presence  has  no  vital  significance.  He  is  simply 
an  imposing  Venetian  grandee,  and  the  enormous  canvas, 
with  its  crowd  of  figures  elegantly  attired  in  fashionable 
sixteenth-century  costume,  its  profusion  of  sumptuous 
dishes  and  gorgeous  tapestries,  is  nothing  more  or 
less  than  a  representation  of  a  Venetian  state  banquet. 
Signorelli  and  Michael  Angelo  introduced  naked  young 
men  into  pictures  of  the  Madonna  and  infant  Christ. 
Others,  such  as  Titian,  lavished  all  the  resources  of 
their  art  with  apparently  equal  enthusiasm  upon  Ma- 
donnas and  nude  Venuses.  The  other  direction  which 
was  followed  by  painting,  aiming  at  historical  verity 
and  rigid  accuracy  in  anatomy  and  expression,  may  be 
illustrated  by  comparing  Rubens's  "  Crucifixion  "  in  the 
Antwerp  Museum  with  a  crucifixion,  for  example,  by 
Fra  Angelico.  Each  motive  was  sincere,  but  the  harsh 
realism  of  the  Fleming  shows  how  far  art,  even  in 
reverent  treatment  of  religious  themes,  had  departed 
from  the  unhistoric  symbolism  formerly  imposed  by  the  ' 

196 


THE  MODERN  MUSICAL   MASS 

Church.  In  all  this  there  was  no  disloyal  intention; 
art  had  simply  issued  its  declaration  of  independence; 
its  sole  aim  was  henceforth  beauty  and  reality ;  the  body 
as  well  as  the  soul  seemed  worthy  of  study  and  adora- 
tion; and  the  Church  adopted  the  new  skill  into  its 
service,  not  seeing  that  the  world  was  destined  to  be 
the  gainer,  and  not  religion. 

The  same  impulse  produced  analogous  results  in  the 
music  of  the  Catholic  Church.  The  liturgic  t€xts  that 
were  appropriated  to  choral  setting  remained  as  they 
had  been,  the  place  and  theoretic  function  of  the  musi- 
cal offices  in  the  ceremonial  were  not  altered,  but  the 
music,  in  imitating  the  characteristics  of  the  opera  and 
exerting  a  somewhat  similar  effect  upon  the  mind, 
became  animated  by  an  ideal  of  devotion  quite  apart 
from  that  of  the  liturgy,  and  belied  that  unimpassioned, 
absorbed  and  universalized  mood  of  worship  of  which 
the  older  forms  of  liturgic  art  are  the  most  complete  and 
consistent  embodiment.  Herein  is  to  be  found  the 
effect  of  the  spirit  of  the  Renaissance  upon  church 
music.  It  is  not  simply  that  it  created  new  musical 
forms,  new  styles  of  performance,  and  a  more  definite 
expression ;  the  significance  of  the  change  lies  rather  in 
the  fact  that  it  transformed  the  whole  spirit  of  devotional 
music  by  endowing  religious  themes  with  sensuous 
charm,  and  with  a  treatment  inspired  by  the  arbitrary 
will  of  the  composer  and  not  by  the  traditions  of  the 
Church. 

At  this  point  we  reach  the  real  underlying  motive, 
however  unconscious  of  it  individual  composers  may 
have  been,  which  compelled  the  revolution  in  liturgic 

197 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

music.  A  new  ideal  of  devotional  expression  made  in- 
evitable the  abandonment  of  the  formal,  academic  style 
of  the  Palestrina  school.  The  spirit  of  the  age  which 
required  a  more  subjective  expression  in  music,  involved 
a  demand  for  a  more  definite  characterization  in  the 
setting  of  the  sacred  texts.  The  composer  could  no 
longer  be  satisfied  with  a  humble  imitation  of  the  forms 
which  the  Church  had  sealed  as  the  proper  expression 
of  her  attitude  toward  the  divine  mysteries,  but  claimed 
the  privilege  of  coloring  the  text  according  to  the  dictates 
of  his  own  feeling  as  a  man  and  his  peculiar  method  as 
an  artist.  The  mediaeval  music  was  that  of  the  cloister 
and  the  chapel.  It  was  elevated,  vague,  abstract;  it  was 
as  though  it  took  up  into  itself  all  the  particular  and 
temporary  emotions  that  might  be  called  forth  by  the 
sacred  history  and  articles  of  belief,  and  sifted  and  refined 
them  into  a  generalized  type,  special  individual  experi- 
ence being  dissolved  in  the  more  diffused  sense  of  awe 
and  rapture  which  fills  the  hearts  of  an  assembly  in  the 
attitude  of  worship.  It  was  the  mood  of  prayer  which 
this  music  uttered,  and  that  not  the  prayer  of  an  individ- 
ual agitated  by  his  own  personal  hopes  and  fears,  but 
the  prayer  of  the  Church,  which  embraces  all  the  needs 
which  the  believers  share  in  common,  and  offers  them  at 
the  Mercy  Seat  with  the  calmness  that  comes  of  reverent 
confidence.  Thus  in  the  old  masses  the  Kyrie  eleison 
and  the  Miserere  nobis  are  never  agonizing;  the  Cruci- 
fixus  does  not  attempt  to  portray  the  grief  of  an  imagi- 
nary spectator  of  the  scene  on  Calvary ;  the  Gloria  in 
excelsis  and  the  Sanctus  never  force  the  jubilant  tone 
into  a   frenzied   excitement ;   the   setting   of  the   Dies 

198 


THE  MODERN  MUSICAL  MASS 

Irge  in  the  Requiem  mass  makes  no  attempt  to  paint  a 
realistic  picture  of  the  terrors  of  the  day  of  judgment. 

Now  compare  a  typical  mass  of  the  modem  dramatic 
school  and  see  how  different  is  the  conception.  The 
music  of  Gloria  and  Credo  revels  in  all  the  opportunities 
for  change  and  contrast  which  the  varied  text  supplies ; 
the  Dona  nobis  pacem  dies  away  in  strains  of  tender 
longing.  Consider  the  mournful  undertone  that  throbs 
through  the  Crucifixus  of  Schubert's  Mass  in  A  flat,  the 
terrifying  crash  that  breaks  into  the  Miserere  nobis  in 
the  Gloria  of  Beethoven's  Mass  in  D,  the  tide  of  ecstasy 
that  surges  through  the  Sanctus  of  Gounod's  St.  Cecilia 
Mass  and  the  almost  cloying  sweetness  of  the  Agnus 
Dei,  the  uproar  of  brass  instruments  in  the  Tuba  mirum 
of  Berlioz's  Requiem.  Observe  the  strong  similarity  of 
style  at  many  points  between  Verdi's  Requiem  and  his 
opera  "Aida."  In  such  works  as  these,  which  are 
fairly  typical  of  the  modern  school,  the  composer  writes 
under  an  independent  impulse,  with  no  thought  of  sub- 
ordinating himself  to  ecclesiastical  canons  or  liturgic 
usage.  He  attempts  not  only  to  depict  his  own  state  of 
mind  as  affected  by  the  ideas  of  the  text,  but  he  also 
often  aims  to  make  his  music  picturesque  according  to 
dramatic  methods.  lie  does  not  seem  to  be  aware  that 
there  is  a  distinction  between  religious  concert  music  and 
church  music.  The  classic  example  of  this  confusion  is 
in  the  Dona  nobis  pacem  of  Beethoven's  Missa  Solemnis, 
where  the  composer  introduces  a  strain  of  miliiary  music 
in  order  to  suggest  the  contrasted  horrors  of  war.  This 
device,  as  Beethoven  employs  it,  is  exceedingly  striking 
and  beautiful,  but  it  is  precisely  antagonistic   to   the 

199 


MUSIC  11^    THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

meaning  of  the  text  and  the  whole  spirit  of  the  Uturgy. 
The  conception  of  a  large  amount  of  modern  mass  music 
seems  to  be,  not  that  the  ritual  to  which  it  belongs  is 
prayer,  but  rather  a  splendid  spectacle  intended  to  excite 
the  imagination  and  fascinate  the  sense.  It  is  this 
altered  conception,  lying  at  the  very  basis  of  the  larger 
part  of  modern  church  music,  that  leads  such  writers  as 
Jakob  to  refuse  even  to  notice  the  modern  school  in  his 
sketch  of  the  history  of  Catholic  church  music,  just  as 
Rio  condemns  Titian  as  the  painter  who  mainly  con- 
tributed to  the  decay  of  religious  painting. 

In  the  Middle  Age  artists  were  grouped  in  schools  or 
in  guilds,  each  renouncing  his  right  of  initiative  and 
shaping  his  productions  in  accordance  with  the  legalized 
formulas  of  his  craft.  The  modern  ai'tist  is  a  separatist, 
his  glory  lies  in  the  degree  to  which  he  rises  above 
hereditary  technic,  and  throws  into  his  work  a  personal 
quality  which  becomes  his  own  creative  gift  to  the  world. 
The  church  music  of  the  sixteenth  century  was  that  of  a 
school ;  the  composers,  although  not  actually  members 
of  a  guild,  worked  on  exactly  the  same  technical  founda- 
tions, and  produced  masses  and  motets  of  a  uniformity 
that  often  becomes  academic  and  monotonous.  The 
modern  composer  carries  into  church  pieces  his  distinct 
personal  style.  The  grandeur  and  violent  contrasts  of 
Beethoven's  symphonies,  the  elegiac  tone  of  Schubert's 
songs,  the  enchantments  of  melody  and  the  luxuries  of 
color  in  the  operas  of  Verdi  and  Gounod,  are  also  char- 
acteristic marks  of  the  masses  of  these  composers.  The 
older  music  could  follow  the  text  submissively,  for  there 
was  no  prescribed  musical  form  to  be  worked  out,  and 

200 


THE  MODERN  MUSICAL  MASS 

cadences  could  occur  whenever  a  sentence  came  to  an 
end.  The  modern  forms,  on  the  other  hand,  consisting 
of  consecutive  and  proportional  sections,  imply  the 
necessity  of  contrast,  development,  and  climax  —  an 
arrangement  that  is  not  necessitated  by  any  correspond- 
ing system  in  the  text.  This  alone  would  often  result 
in  a  lack  of  congruence  between  text  and  music,  and  the 
composer  would  easily  fall  into  the  way  of  paying  more 
heed  to  the  sheer  musical  working  out  than  to  the  mean- 
ing of  the  words.  Moreover,  in  the  fifteenth  and  six- 
teenth centuries  there  was  no  radical  conflict  between 
the  church  musical  style  and  the  secular  ;  so  far  as  secular 
music  was  cultivated  by  the  professional  composers  it  was 
no  more  than  a  slight  variation  from  the  ecclesiastical 
model.  Profane  music  may  be  said  to  have  been  a 
branch  of  religious  music.  In  the  modern  period  this 
relationship  is  reversed  ;  secular  music  in  opera  and  in- 
strumental forms  has  remoulded  church  music,  and  the 
latter  is  in  a  sense  a  branch  of  the  former. 

Besides  the  development  of  the  sectional  form,  another 
technical  change  acted  to  break  down  the  old  obstacles 
to  characteristic  expression.  An  essential  feature  of  the 
mediffival  music,  consequent  upon  the  very  nature  of 
the  Gregorian  modes,  was  the  very  slight  employment 
of  chromatic  alteration  of  notes,  and  the  absence  of  free 
dissonances.  Modulation  in  the  modern  sense  cannot 
exist  in  a  purely  diatonic  scheme.  Tlie  breaking  up  of 
the  modal  system  was  foreshsulowed  when  composers 
became  impatient  with  the  placidity  and  colorlessness 
of  the  modal  harmonies  and  began  to  intrfxluce  un- 
expected   dissonances    for    tlie   sake   of    variety.     The 

201 


MUSIC  IN  THE   WESTERN  CHURCH 

chromatic  changes  that  occasionally  appear  in  the  old 
music  are  scattered  about  in  a  hap-hazard  fashion ;  they 
give  an  impression  of  helplessness  to  the  modern  ear  when 
the  composer  seems  about  to  make  a  modulation  and  at 
once  falls  back  again  into  the  former  tonality.  It  was  a 
necessity,  therefore,  as  well  as  a  virtue,  that  the  church 
music  of  the  old  regime  should  maintain  the  calm, 
equable  flow  that  seems  to  us  so  pertinent  to  its  liturgic 
intention.  For  these  reasons  it  may  perhaps  be  replied 
to  what  has  been  said  concerning  the  devotional  ideal 
embodied  in  the  calm,  severe  strains  of  the  old  masters, 
that  they  had  no  choice  in  the  matter.  Does  it  follow, 
it  may  be  asked,  that  these  men  would  not  have  written 
in  the  modern  style  if  they  had  had  the  means  ?  Some 
of  them  probably  would  have  done  so,  others  almost 
certainly  would  not.  Many  writers  who  carried  the  old 
form  into  the  seventeenth  century  did  have  the  choice 
and  resisted  it;  they  stanchly  defended  the  traditional 
principles  and  condemned  the  new  methods  as  destructive 
of  pure  church  music.  The  laws  that  work  in  the  de- 
velopment of  ecclesiastical  art  also  seem  to  require  that 
music  should  pass  through  the  same  stages  as  those  that 
sculpture  and  painting  traversed,  —  first,  the  stage  of 
symbolism,  restraint  within  certain  conventions  in  accord- 
ance with  ecclesiastical  prescription ;  afterwards,  the 
deliverance  from  the  trammels  of  school  formulas,  eman- 
cipation from  all  laws  but  those  of  the  free  determination 
of  individual  genius.  At  this  point  authority  ceases, 
dictation  gives  way  to  persuasion,  and  art  still  ministers 
to  the  higher  ends  of  the  Church,  not  through  fear,  but 
through  reverence  for  the  teachings  and  appeals  which 

202 


THE  MODERN  MUSICAL  MASS 

the  Church  sends  forth  as  her  contribution  to  the  nobler 
influences  of  the  age. 

The  writer  who  would  trace  the  history  of  the  modern 
musical  mass  has  a  task  very  different  from  that  which 
meets  the  historian  of  the  mediaeval  period.  In  the  lat- 
ter case,  as  has  already  been  shown,  generalization  is 
comparatively  easy,  for  we  deal  with  music  in  which 
differences  of  nationality  and  individual  style  hardly 
appear.  The  modern  Catholic  music,  on  the  other  hand, 
follows  the  currents  that  shape  the  course  of  secular 
music.  Where  secular  music  becomes  formalized,  as  in 
the  early  Italian  opera,  religious  music  tends  to  sink  into 
a  similar  routine.  When,  on  the  other  hand,  men  of 
commanding  genius,  such  as  Beethoven,  Berlioz,  Liszt, 
Verdi,  contribute  works  of  a  purely  individual  stamp  to 
the  general  development  of  musical  art,  their  church 
compositions  form  no  exception,  but  are  likewise  sharply 
differentiated  from  others  of  the  same  class.  The  influ- 
ence of  nationality  makes  itself  felt  —  there  is  a  style 
characteristic  of  Italy,  another  of  South  Germany  and 
Austria,  another  of  Paris,  although  these  distinctions 
tend  to  disappear  under  the  solvent  of  modern  cosmo- 
politanism. The  Church  does  not  positively  dictate  any 
particular  norm  or  method,  and  hence  local  tendencies 
have  run  their  course  almost  unchecked. 

Catholic  music  has  shared  all  the  fluctuations  of 
European  taste.  The  levity  of  the  eighteenth  and  early 
part  of  the  nineteenth  centuries  was  as  apparent  in  the 
mass  as  in  the  opera.  The  ui)lift  in  musical  culture 
during  the  last  one  hundred  years  has  carried  church 
composition  along  with  it,  so  that  almost  all  the  works 

203 


MUSIC  IN  THE   WESTERN  CHURCH 

produced  since  Palestrina,  of  which  the  Church  has 
most  reason  to  be  proud,  belong  to  the  nineteenth 
century.  One  of  the  ultimate  results  of  the  modern 
license  in  style  and  the  tendency  toward  individual  ex- 
pression is  the  custom  of  writing  masses  as  free  compo- 
sitions rather  than  for  liturgic  uses,  and  of  performing 
them  in  public  halls  or  theatres  in  the  same  manner  aii 
oratorios.  Mozart  wrote  his  Requiem  to  the  order  of  a 
private  patron.  Beethoven's  Missa  Solemnis,  not  being 
ready  when  wanted  for  a  consecration  ceremony,  outgrew 
the  dimensions  of  a  service  mass  altogether,  and  was 
finished  without  any  liturgic  purpose  in  view.  Cheru- 
bini's  mass  in  D  minor  and  Liszt's  Gran  Mass  were  each 
composed  for  a  single  occasion,  and  both  of  them,  like 
the  Requiems  of  Berlioz  and  Dvorak,  although  often 
heard  in  concerts,  liave  but  very  rarely  been  performed 
in  church  worship.  Masses  have  even  been  written  by 
Protestants,  such  as  Bach,  Schumann,  Hauptmann, 
Richter,  and  Becker.  Masses  that  are  written  under  the 
same  impulse  as  ordinary  concert  and  dramatic  works 
easily  violate  the  ecclesiastical  spirit,  and  pass  into  the 
category  of  religious  works  that  are  non-churchly,  and 
it  may  often  seem  necessary  to  class  them  with  cantatas 
on  account  of  their  semi-dramatic  tone.  In  such  pro- 
ductions as  Bach's  B  minor  Mass,  Beethoven's  Missa 
Solemnis,  and  Berlioz's  Requiem  we  have  works  that 
constitute  a  separate  phase  of  art,  not  masses  in  the 
proper  sense,  for  they  do  not  properly  blend  with  the 
Church  ceremonial  nor  contribute  to  the  special  devo- 
tional mood  which  the  Church  aims  to  promote,  while 
yet  in  their  general  conception  they  are  held  by  a  loose 

204 


THE  MODERN  MUSICAL   MASS 

band  to  the  altar.  So  apart  do  these  mighty  creations 
stand  that  they  may  almost  be  said  to  glorify  religion 
in  the  abstract  rather  than  the  confession  of  the  Catholic 
Church. 

The  changed  conditions  in  respect  to  patronage  have 
had  the  same  effect  upon  the  mass  as  upon  other  depart- 
ments of  musical  composition.  In  former  periods  down 
to  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  professional 
composer  was  almost  invariably  a  salaried  officer,  attached 
as  a  personal  retainer  to  a  court,  lay  or  clerical,  and 
bound  to  conform  his  style  of  composition  in  a  greater 
or  less  degree  to  the  tastes  of  his  employer.  A  Sixtus 
V.  could  reprove  Palestrina  for  failing  to  please  with 
a  certain  mass  and  admonish  him  to  do  better  work 
in  the  future.  Haydn  could  hardly  venture  to  intro- 
duce any  innovation  into  the  style  of  religious  music 
sanctioned  by  his  august  masters,  the  Esterhazys. 
Mozart  wrote  all  his  masses,  with  the  exception  of  the 
Requiem,  for  the  chapel  of  the  prince  archbishop  of 
Salzburg.  In  this  establishment  the  length  of  the  mass 
was  prescribed,  the  mode  of  writing  and  performance, 
which  had  become  traditional,  hindered  freedom  of  de- 
velopment, and  therefore  Mozart's  works  of  this  class 
everywhere  give  evidence  of  constraint.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  leading  composers  of  the  present  centurj'  that 
have  occupied  themselves  with  the  mass  have  been  free 
from  such  arbitrary  compulsions.  They  have  written 
masses,  not  as  a  part  of  routine  duty,  but  as  they  were 
inspired  by  the  holy  words  and  by  the  desire  to  offer  the 
free  gift  of  their  genius  at  the  altar  of  the  Church. 
They  have  been,  as  a  rule,  devoted  churchmen,  but  they 

205 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

have  felt  that  they  had  the  sympathy  of  the  Church  in 
asserting  the  rights  of  the  artist  as  against  prelatical 
conservatism  and  local  usage.  The  outcome  is  seen  in  a 
group  of  works  which,  whatever  the  strict  censors  may 
deem  their  defects  in  edifying  quality,  at  least  indicate 
that  in  the  field  of  musical  art  there  is  no  necessary  con- 
flict between  Catholicism  and  the  free  spirit  of  the  age. 

Under  these  conditions  the  mass  in  the  modern  musi- 
cal era  has  taken  a  variety  of  directions  and  assumed 
distinct  national  and  individual  complexions.  The  Nea- 
politan school,  which  gave  the  law  to  Italian  opera  in 
the  eighteenth  century,  endowed  the  mass  with  the  same 
soft  sensuousness  of  melody  and  sentimental  pathos  of 
expression,  together  with  a  dry,  calculated  kind  of  har- 
mony in  the  chorus  portions,  the  work  never  touching 
deep  chords  of  feeling,  and  yet  preserving  a  tone  of 
sobriety  and  dignity.  As  cultivated  in  Italy  and  France 
the  mass  afterward  degenerated  into  rivalry  on  equal 
terms  with  the  shallow,  captivating,  cloying  melody  of 
the  later  Neapolitans  and  their  successors,  Rossini  and 
Bellini.  In  this  school  of  so-called  religious  music  all 
sense  of  appropriateness  was  often  lost,  and  a  florid,  pro- 
fane treatment  was  not  only  permitted  but  encouraged. 
Perversions  which  can  hardly  be  called  less  than  blas- 
phemous had  free  rein  in  the  ritual  music.  Franz  Liszt, 
in  a  letter  to  a  Paris  journal,  written  in  1835,  bitterly 
attacks  the  music  that  flaunted  itself  in  the  Catholic 
churches  of  the  city.  He  complains  of  the  sacrilegious 
virtuoso  displays  of  the  prima  donna,  the  wretched 
choruses,  the  vulgar  antics  of  the  organist  playing  galops 
and  variations  from  comic  operas  in  the  most  solemn 

206 


THE  MODERN  MUSICAL   MASS 

moments  of  the  holy  ceremony.  Similar  testimony  has 
from  time  to  time  come  from  Italy,  and  it  would  appear 
that  the  most  lamentable  lapses  from  the  pure  church 
tradition  have  occurred  in  some  of  the  very  places  where 
one  would  expect  that  the  strictest  principles  would  be 
loyally  maintained.  The  most  celebrated  surviving  ex- 
ample of  the  consequences  to  which  the  virtuoso  ten- 
dencies in  church  music  must  inevitably  lead  when 
unchecked  by  a  truly  pious  criticism  is  Rossini's  Stabat 
Mater.  This  frivolous  work  is  frequently  performed 
with  great  eclat  in  Catholic  places  of  worship,  as  though 
the  clergy  were  indifferent  to  the  almost  incredible  levity 
which  could  clothe  the  heart-breaking  pathos  of  Jaco- 
pone's  immortal  hymn  —  a  hymn  properly  honored  by 
the  Church  with  a  place  among  the  five  great  Sequences 
—  with  strains  better  suited  to  the  sprightly  abandon  of 
opera  buffa. 

Another  branch  of  the  mass  was  sent  by  the  Neapoli- 
tan school  into  Austria,  and  here  the  results,  although 
unsatisfactory  to  the  better  taste  of  the  present  time, 
were  far  nobler  and  more  fruitful  than  in  Italy  and 
France.  The  group  of  Austrian  church  composers, 
represented  by  the  two  Ilaydns,  Mozart,  Eybler,  Neu- 
komm,  Sechter  and  others  of  the  period,  created  a  form 
of  church  music  which  partook  of  much  of  the  dry, 
formal,  pedantic  spirit  of  the  day,  in  whicli  regularity  of 
form,  scientific  correctness,  and  a  conscious  propriety  of 
manner  were  often  more  considered  than  emotional  fer- 
vor. Certain  conventions,  such  as  a  florid  contrapuntal 
treatment  of  the  Kyrie  witii  its  slow  introduction  followed 
by  an  Allegro,  the  fugues  at  the  Cum  Sanctu  Spiritu 

207 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

and  the  Et  Vitam,  the  regular  alternation  of  solo  and 
chorus  numbers,  give  the  typical  Austrian  mass  a  some- 
what rigid,  perfunctory  air,  and  in  practice  produce  the 
eifect  which  always  results  when  expression  becomes 
stereotyped  and  form  is  exalted  over  substance.  Mozart's 
masses,  with  the  exception  of  the  beautiful  Requiem 
(wliich  was  his  last  work  and  belongs  in  a  different  cate- 
gory), were  the  production  of  his  boyhood,  written 
before  his  genius  became  self-assertive  and  under  condi- 
tions distinctly  unfavorable  to  the  free  exercise  of  the 
imagination. 

The  masses  of  Joseph  Haydn  stand  somewhat  apart 
from  the  strict  Austrian  school,  for  although  as  a 
rule  they  conform  externally  to  the  local  conventions, 
they  are  far  more  individual  and  possess  a  freedom 
and  buoyancy  that  are  decidedly  personal.  It  has  be- 
come the  fashion  among  the  sterner  critics  of  church 
music  to  condemn  Haydn's  masses  without  qualification, 
as  conspicuous  examples  of  the  degradation  of  taste  in 
religious  art  which  is  one  of  the  depressing  legacies  of 
the  eighteenth  century.  Much  of  this  censure  is  de- 
served, for  Haydn  too  often  loses  sight  of  the  law  which 
demands  that  music  should  reinforce,  and  not  contradict, 
the  meaning  and  purpose  of  the  text.  Haydn's  mass 
style  is  often  indistinguishable  from  his  oratorio  style. 
His  colorature  arias  are  flippant,  often  inti'oduced  at 
such  solemn  moments  as  to  be  offensive.  Even  where 
the  voice  part  is  subdued  to  an  appropriate  solemnity, 
the  desired  impression  is  frequently  destroyed  by  some 
tawdry  flourish  in  the  orchestra.  The  brilliancy  of  the 
choruses  is  often  pompous  and  hollow.     Haydn's  genius 

208 


THE  MODERN  MUSICAL  MASS 

was  primarily  instrumental;  he  was  the  virtual  creator 
of  the  modern  symphony  and  string  quartet ;  his  musical 
forms  and  modes  of  expression  were  drawn  from  two 
diverse  sources  which  it  was  his  great  mission  to  con- 
ciliate and  idealize,  viz.,  the  Italian  aristocratic  opera, 
and  the  dance  and  song  of  the  common  people.  An  ex- 
traordinary sense  of  form  and  an  instinctive  sympathy 
with  whatever  is  spontaneous,  genial,  and  racy  made  him 
what  he  was.  The  joviality  of  his  nature  was  irrepres- 
sible. To  write  music  of  a  sombre  cast  was  out  of  his 
power.  There  is  not  a  melancholy  stmin  in  all  his 
works ;  pensiveness  was  as  deep  a  note  as  he  could 
strike.  He  tried  to  defend  the  gay  tone  of  his  church 
music  by  saying  that  he  had  such  a  sense  of  the  good- 
ness of  (jod  that  he  could  not  be  otherwise  than  joyful 
in  thinking  of  him.  This  explanation  was  perfectly  sin- 
cere, but  Haydn  was  not  enough  of  a  philosopher  to  see 
the  weak  spot  in  this  sort  of  aesthetics.  Yet  in  spite  of 
the  obvious  faults  of  Haydn's  mass  style,  looking  at  it 
from  a  historic  point  of  view,  it  was  a  promise  of 
advance,  and  not  a  sign  of  degeneracy.  For  it  marked 
the  introduction  of  genuine,  even  if  misdirected  feeling 
into  worship  music,  in  the  place  of  dull  conformity  to 
routhie.  Haydn  was  far  indeed  from  solving  the  problem 
of  church  music,  but  he  lielped  to  give  new  life  to  a  form 
that  showed  danger  of  becoming  atrophied. 

Two  masses  of  world  hnportance  rise  above  the 
mediocrity  of  the  Austrian  school,  like  the  towers  of 
some  Gothic  cathednil  above  the  monotonous  tiled  roofs 
of  a  mediteval  city,  —  the  Requiem  of  Mozart  and  the 
Missa  Solemnis  of  Beethoven.  The  unfinished  master- 
14  209 


MUSIC  IN   THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

piece  of  Mozart  outsoars  all  comparison  with  the  re- 
ligious works  of  his  youth,  and  as  his  farewell  to  the 
world  he  could  impart  to  it  a  tone  of  pathos  and  exal- 
tation which  had  hardly  been  known  in  the  cold,  objec- 
tive treatment  of  the  usual  eighteenth-century  mass. 
The  hand  of  death  was  upon  Mozart  as  he  penned  the 
immortal  pages  of  the  Requiem,  and  in  this  crisis  he 
could  feel  that  he  was  free  from  the  dictation  of  fashion 
and  precedent.  This  work  is  perhaps  not  all  that  we 
might  look  for  in  these  solemn  circumstances.  Mozart's 
exquisite  genius  was  suited  rather  to  the  task,  in  which 
lies  his  true  glory,  of  raising  the  old  Italian  opera  to 
its  highest  possibilities  of  grace  and  truth  to  nature. 
He  had  not  that  depth  of  feeling  and  sweep  of  imagi- 
nation which  make  the  works  of  Bach,  Handel,  and 
Beethoven  the  sublimest  expression  of  awe  in  view  of 
the  mysteries  of  life  and  death.  Yet  it  is  wholly 
free  from  the  fripperies  which  disfigure  the  masses  of 
Haydn,  as  well  as  from  the  dry  scholasticism  of  much 
of  Mozart's  own  early  religious  work.  Such  move- 
ments as  the  Confutatis,  the  Recordare,  and  the  Lac- 
rimosa  —  movements  inexpressibly  earnest,  consoling, 
and  pathetic  —  gave  evidence  that  a  new  and  loftier 
spirit  had  entered  the  music  of  the  Church. 

The  Missa  Solemnis  of  Beethoven,  composed  1818- 
1822,  can  hardly  be  considered  from  the  liturgic  point 
of  view.  In  the  vastness  of  its  dimensions  it  is  quite 
disproportioned  to  the  ceremony  to  which  it  theoreti- 
cally belongs,  and  its  almost  unparalleled  difficulty  of 
execution  and  the  gnindeur  of  its  choral  climaxes  re- 
move it  beyond  the  reach  of  all  but  the  most  exceptional 

,  210 


THE  MODERN  MUSICAL  MASS 

choirs.  It  is,  therefore,  performed  only  as  a  concert 
work  by  choral  societies  with  a  full  orchestral  equip- 
ment. For  these  reasons  it  is  not  to  be  classed  with 
the  service  masses  of  the  Catholic  Church,  but  may  be 
placed  beside  the  B  minor  Mass  of  Sebastian  Bach,  both 
holding  a  position  outside  all  ordinary  comparisons. 
Each  of  these  colossal  creations  stands  on  its  own  soli- 
tary eminence,  the  projection  in  tones  of  the  religious 
conceptions  of  two  gigantic,  all-comprehending  intel- 
lects. For  neither  of  these  two  works  is  the  Catholic 
Church  strictly  responsible.  They  do  not  proceed  from 
within  the  Church.  Bach  was  a  strict  Protestant ;  Bee- 
thoven, although  nominally  a  disciple  of  the  Catholic 
Church,  had  almost  no  share  in  her  communion,  and 
his  religious  belief,  so  far  as  the  testimony  goes,  was 
a  sort  of  pantheistic  mysticism.  Both  these  supreme 
artists  in  the  later  periods  of  their  careers  gave  free 
rein  to  their  imaginations  and  not  only  well-nigh  ex- 
ceeded all  available  means  of  performance,  but  also 
seemed  to  strive  to  force  musical  forms  and  the  powers 
of  instruments  and  voices  beyond  their  limits  in  the 
efforts  to  realize  that  which  is  unrealizable  through 
any  human  medium.  In  this  endeavor  they  went  to  the 
very  verge  of  the  sublime,  and  produced  achievements 
which  excite  wonder  and  awe.  These  two  masses  defy 
all  imitation,  and  represent  no  school.  The  spirit  of 
individualism  in  religious  music  can  go  no  further. 

Tlie  last  masses  of  international  importance  produced 
on  Austrian  soil  are  those  of  Franz  Schubert.  Of  his 
six  Latin  masses  four  are  youthful  works,  pure  and 
graceful,  but  not  especially  significant.     In  his  E  flat 

211 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

and  A  flat  masses,  however,  he  takes  a  place  in  the 
upper  rank  of  mass  composers  of  this  century.  The 
E  flat  Mass  is  weakened  by  the  diffuseness  which  was 
Schubert's  besetting  sin;  the  A  flat  is  more  terse  and 
sustained  in  excellence,  and  thoroughly  available  for 
practical  use.  Both  of  them  contain  movements  of 
purest  ideal  beauty  and  sincere  worshipful  spirit,  and 
often  rise  to  a  grandeur  that  is  unmarred  by  sensation- 
alism and  wholly  in  keeping  with  the  tone  of  awe 
which  pervades  even  the  most  exultant  moments  of 
the  liturgy. 

The  lofty  idealism  exemplified  in  such  works  as 
Mozart's  Requiem,  Beethoven's  Mass  in  D,  Schubert's 
last  two  masses,  and  in  a  less  degree  in  Weber's  Mass 
in  E  flat  has  never  since  been  lost  from  the  German 
mass,  in  spite  of  local  and  temporary  reactions.  Such 
composers  as  Kiel,  Havert,  Grell,  and  Rheinberger  have 
done  noble  service  in  holding  German  Catholic  music 
fast  to  the  tradition  of  seriousness  and  truth  which  has 
been  taking  form  all  through  this  century  in  German 
secular  music.  It  must  be  said,  however,  that  the 
German  Catholic  Church  at  large,  especially  in  the 
country  districts,  has  been  too  often  dull  to  the  right- 
eous claims  of  the  profounder  expression  of  devotional 
feeling,  and  has  maintained  the  vogue  of  the  Italian 
mass  and  the  shallower  products  of  the  Austrian  school. 
Against  this  indifference  the  St.  Cecilia  Society  has 
directed  its  noble  missionary  labors,  with  as  yet  but 
partial  success. 

If  we  turn  our  observation  to  Italy  and  France  we 
find  that  the  music  of  the  Church  is  at  every  period 

212 


THE  MODERN  MUSICAL  MASS 

sympathetically  responsive  to  the  fluctuations  in  secular 
music.  Elevated  and  dignified,  if  somewhat  cold  and 
constrained,  in  the  \vritings  of  the  nobler  spirits  of  the 
Neapolitan  school  such  as  Durante  and  Jomelli,  sweet 
and  graceful  even  to  effeminacy  in  Pergolesi,  sensuous 
and  saccharine  in  Rossini,  imposing  and  massive,  rising 
at  times  to  epic  grandeur,  in  Cherubini,  by  turns  ecs- 
tatic and  voluptuous  in  Gounod,  ardent  and  impassioned 
in  Verdi  —  the  ecclesiastical  music  of  the  Latin  nations 
offers  works  of  adorable  beauty,  sometimes  true  to  the 
pure  devotional  ideal,  sometimes  perverse,  and  by  their 
isolation  serving  to  illustrate  the  dependence  of  the 
church  composer's  inspiration  upon  the  general  con- 
ditions of  musical  taste  and  progress.  Not  only  were 
those  musicians  of  France  and  Italy  who  were  promi- 
nent as  church  composers  also  among  the  leaders  in 
opera,  but  their  ideals  and  methods  in  opera  were 
closely  paralleled  by  those  displayed  in  their  religious 
productions.  It  is  impossible  to  separate  the  powerful 
masses  of  Cherubini,  with  their  pomp  and  majesty  of 
movement,  their  reserved  and  pathetic  melody,  their 
grandiose  dimensions  and  their  sumptuous  orchestra- 
tion, from  those  contemporary  tendencies  in  dramatic 
art  which  issued  in  the  "historic  school"  of  grand 
opera  as  exemplified  in  the  pretentious  works  of  Spon- 
tini  and  Meyerbeer.  They  may  be  said  to  be  the  re- 
flection in  church  art  of  the  hollow  splendor  of  French 
imperialism.  Such  an  expression,  however,  may  be 
accused  of  failing  in  justice  to  the  undeniable  merits 
of  Cherubini's  masses.  As  a  man  and  as  a  musician 
Cherubini    commands   unbounded   respect  for    his   un 

213 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

swerving  sincerity  in  an  age  of  sham,  his  uncompro- 
mising assertion  of  his  dignity  as  an  artist  in  an  age 
of  sycophancy,  and  the  solid  worth  of  his  achievement 
in  the  midst  of  shallow  aims  and  mediocre  results. 
As  a  church  composer  he  towers  so  high  above  his 
predecessors  of  the  eighteenth  century  in  respect  to 
learning  and  imagination  that  his  masses  are  not  un- 
worthy to  stand  beside  Beethoven's  Missa  Solemnis  as 
auguries  of  the  loftier  aims  that  were  soon  to  prevail 
in  the  realm  of  religious  music.  His  Requiem  in  C 
minor,  particularly,  by  reason  of  its  exquisite  tender- 
ness, breadth  of  thought,  nobility  of  expression,  and 
avoidance  of  all  excess  either  of  agitation  or  of  gloom, 
must  be  ranked  among  the  most  admirable  modem 
examples  of  pure  Catholic  art. 

The  effort  of  Lesueur  (1763-1837)  to  introduce  into 
church  music  a  picturesque  and  imitative  style  —  which, 
in  spite  of  much  that  was  striking  and  attractive  in 
result,  must  be  pronounced  a  false  direction  in  church 
music  —  was  characteristically  French  and  was  con- 
tinued in  such  works  as  Berlioz's  Requiem  and  to  a 
certain  extent  in  the  masses  and  psalms  of  Liszt.  The 
genius  of  Liszt,  notwithstanding  his  Hungarian  birth, 
was  closely  akin  to  the  French  in  his  tendency  to  con- 
nect every  musical  impulse  with  a  picture  or  with  some 
mental  conception  which  could  be  grasped  in  distinct 
concrete  outline.  In  his  youth  I^iszt,  in  his  despair 
over  the  degeneracy  of  liturgic  music  in  France  and  its 
complete  separation  from  the  real  life  of  the  people, 
proclaimed  the  necessity  of  a  rapjjrochement  between 
church  music  and  popular  music.     In  an  article  written 

214 


THE  MODERN  MUSICAL  MASS 

for  a  Paris  journal  in  1834,  which  remains  a  fragment, 
he  imagined  a  new  style  of  religious  music  which  should 
"  unite  in  colossal  relations  theatre  and  church,  which 
should  be  at  the  same  time  dramatic  and  solemn,  im- 
posing and  simple,  festive  and  earnest,  fiery  and  un- 
constrained, stormy  and  reposeful,  clear  and  fervent." 
These  expressions  are  too  vague  to  serve  as  a  program 
for  a  new  art  movement.  They  imply,  however,  a 
protest  against  the  one-sided  operatic  tendency  of  the 
day,  at  the  same  time  indicating  the  conviction  that 
the  problem  is  not  to  be  solved  in  a  pedantic  reaction 
toward  the  ancient  austere  ideal,  and  yet  that  the  old 
and  new  endeavors,  liturgic  appropriateness  and  char- 
acteristic expression,  reverence  of  mood  and  recognition 
of  the  claims  of  contemporary  taste,  should  in  some 
way  be  made  to  harmonize.  The  man  who  all  his  life 
conceived  the  theatre  as  a  means  of  popular  education, 
and  who  strove  to  realize  that  conception  as  court 
music  director  at  Weimar,  would  also  lament  any  aliena- 
tion between  the  church  ceremony  and  the  intellectual 
and  emotional  habitudes  and  inclinations  of  the  people. 
A  devoted  churchman  reverencing  the  ancient  ecclesias- 
tical tradition,  and  at  the  same  time  a  musical  artist 
of  the  advanced  modern  type,  Liszt's  instincts  yearned 
more  or  less  blindly  towards  an  alliance  between  the 
sacerdotal  conception  of  religious  art  and  the  general 
prtistic  spirit  of  the  age.  Some  such  vision  evidently 
floated  before  his  mind  in  the  masses,  psalms,  and 
oratorios  of  his  later  years,  as  shown  in  their  frequent 
striving  after  the  picturesque,  together  with  an  inclina- 
tion toward  the  older  ecclesiastical  forms.     These  two 

215 


MUSIC  IN   THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

ideals  are  probably  incompatible ;  at  any  rate  Liszt 
did  not  possess  the  genius  to  unite  them  in  a  convinc- 
ing manner. 

Among  the  later  ecclesiastical  composers  of  France, 
Gounod  shines  out  conspicuously  by  virtue  of  those 
fascinating  melodic  gifts  which  have  made  the  fame  of 
the  St.  Cecilia  mass  almost  conterminous  with  that 
of  the  opera  "  Faust."  Indeed,  there  is  hardly  a  better 
example  of  the  modem  propensity  of  the  dramatic  and 
religious  styles  to  reflect  each  other's  lineaments  than  is 
found  in  the  close  parallelism  which  appears  in  Gounod's 
secular  and  church  productions.  So  pliable,  or  perhaps 
we  might  say,  so  neutral  is  his  art,  that  a  similar  quality 
of  melting  cadence  is  made  to  portray  the  mutual 
avowals  of  love-lorn  souls  and  the  raptures  of  heavenly 
aspiration.  Those  who  condemn  Gounod's  religious 
music  on  this  account  as  sensuous  have  some  reason 
on  their  side,  yet  no  one  has  ever  ventured  to  accuse 
Gounod  of  insincerity,  and  it  may  well  be  that  his 
wide  human  sjonpathy  saw  enough  correspondence 
between  the  worship  of  an  earthly  ideal  and  that  of  a 
heavenly  —  each  implying  the  abandonment  of  self -con- 
sciousness in  the  yearning  for  a  happiness  which  is  at 
the  moment  the  highest  conceivable  —  as  to  make  the 
musical  expression  of  both  essentially  similar.  This  is 
to  say  that  the  composer  forgets  liturgic  claims  in 
behalf  of  the  purely  human.  This  principle  no  doubt 
involves  the  destruction  of  church  music  as  a  distinctive 
form  of  art,  but  it  is  certain  that  the  world  at  large,  as 
evinced  by  the  immense  popularity  of  Gounod's  religious 
works,  sees  no  incongruity  and  does  not  feel  that  such 

216 


THE  MODERN  MUSICAL  MASS 

usage  is  profane.  Criticism  on  the  part  of  all  but  the 
most  austere  is  disarmed  by  the  pure,  seraphic  beauty 
which  this  complacent  art  of  Gounod  often  reveals. 
The  intoxicating  sweetness  of  his  melody  and  harmony 
never  sinks  to  a  Rossinian  flippancy.  Of  Gounod's 
reverence  for  the  Church  and  for  its  art  ideals,  there  can 
be  no  question.  A  man's  views  of  the  proper  tone  of 
church  music  will  be  controlled  largely  by  his  tempera- 
ment, and  Gounod's  temperament  was  as  warm  as  an 
Oriental's.  He  offered  to  the  Church  his  best,  and  as 
the  Magi  brought  gold,  frankincense,  and  myrrh  to  a 
babe  born  among  cattle  in  a  stable,  so  Gounod,  with  a 
consecration  equally  sincere,  clothed  his  prayers  in 
strains  so  ecstatic  that  compared  with  them  the  most 
impassioned  accents  of  "  Faust "  and  "  Romeo  and 
Juliet"  are  tame.  He  was  a  profound  student  of 
Palestrina,  Mozart,  and  Cherubini,  and  strong  traces 
of  the  styles  of  these  masters  are  apparent  in  his 
works. 

Somewhat  similar  qualities,  although  far  less  sensa- 
tional, are  found  in  the  productions  of  that  admirable 
band  of  organists  and  church  composers  that  now  lends 
such  lustre  to  the  art  life  of  the  French  capital.  The 
culture  of  such  representatives  of  this  school  as  Guil- 
mant,  Widor,  Saint-Saens,  Dubois,  Gigout  is  so  solidly 
based,  and  their  views  of  religious  music  so  judicious, 
that  the  methods  and  traditions  which  they  are  con- 
scientiously engaged  in  establishing  need  only  the  rein- 
forcement of  still  higher  genius  to  bring  forth  works 
which  will  confer  even  greater  honor  upon  Catholicism 
than  she  has   yet   received   from   the  devotion  of   her 

217 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

musical  sons  in  France.  No  purer  or  nobler  type  of 
religious  music  has  appeared  in  these  latter  days  than  is 
to  be  found  in  the  compositions  of  C^sar  Franck  (1822- 
1890).  For  the  greater  part  of  his  life  overlooked  or 
disdained  by  all  save  a  devoted  band  of  disciples,  in 
spirit  and  in  learning  he  was  allied  to  the  Palestrinas 
and  the  Bachs,  and  there  are  many  who  place  him  in 
respect  to  genius  among  the  foremost  of  the  French 
musicians  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

The  religious  works  of  Verdi  might  be  characterized 
in  much  the  same  terms  as  those  of  Gounod.  In  Verdi 
also  we  have  a  truly  filial  devotion  to  the  Catholic 
Church,  united  with  a  temperament  easily  excited  to 
a  white  heat  when  submitted  to  his  musical  inspiration, 
and  a  genius  for  melody  and  seductive  harmonic  com- 
binations in  which  he  is  hardly  equalled  among  modern 
composers.  In  his  Manzoni  Requiem,  Stabat  Mater, 
and  Te  Deum  these  qualities  are  no  less  in  evidence 
than  in  "  Aida  "  and  "  Otello,"  and  it  would  be  idle  to 
deny  their  devotional  sincerity  on  account  of  their  lavish 
profusion  of  nerve-exciting  effects.  The  controversy 
between  the  contemners  and  the  defenders  of  the  Man- 
zoni Requiem  is  now  somewhat  stale  and  need  not  be 
revived  here.  Any  who  may  wish  to  resuscitate  it, 
however,  on  account  of  the  perennial  importance  of  the 
question  of  what  constitutes  purity  and  appropriateness 
in  church  art,  must  in  justice  put  themselves  into 
imaginative  sympathy  with  the  racial  religious  feeling 
of  an  Italian,  and  make  allowance  also  for  the  unde- 
niable suggestion  of  the  dramatic  in  the  Catholic  ritual, 
and  for  the  natural  effect  of   the   Catholic   ceremonial 

218 


THE   MODERN  MUSICAL  MASS 

and  its  peculiar  atmosphere  upon  the  more  ardent,  en- 
thusiastic order  of  minds. 

The  most  imposing  contributions  that  have  been 
made  to  Catholic  liturgic  music  since  Verdi's  Requiem 
are  undoubtedly  the  Requiem  Mass  and  the  Stabat 
Mater  of  Dvofdk.  All  the  wealth  of  tone  color  which 
is  contained  upon  the  palette  of  this  master  of  harmony 
and  instrumentation  has  been  laid  upon  these  two  mag- 
nificent scores.  Inferior  to  Vei'di  in  variety  and  gor- 
geousness  of  melody,  the  Bohemian  composer  surpasses 
the  great  Italian  in  massiveness,  dignity,  and  in  unfailing 
good  taste.  There  can  be  no  question  that  Dvorak's 
Stabat  Mater  is  supreme  over  all  other  settings  —  the 
only  one,  except  Verdi's  much  shorter  work,  that  is 
worthy  of  the  pathos  and  tenderness  of  this  immortal 
Sequence.  The  Requiem  of  Dvorak  in  spite  of  a  ten- 
dency to  monotony,  is  a  work  of  exceeding  beauty,  rising 
often  to  grandeur,  and  is  notable,  apart  from  its  sheer 
musical  qualities,  as  the  most  precious  gift  to  Catholic 
art  that  has  come  from  the  often  rebellious  land  of 
Bohemia. 

It  would  be  profitless  to  attempt  to  predict  the  future 
of  Catholic  church  music.  In  the  hasty  survey  which 
we  have  made  of  the  Catholic  mass  in  the  past  three 
centuries  we  have  been  able  to  discover  no  law  of  de- 
velopment except  the  almost  unanimous  agreement  of 
the  chief  composers  to  reject  law  and  employ  the  sacred 
text  of  Scripture  and  liturgy  as  the  basis  of  works  in 
which  not  the  common  consciousness  of  the  Church 
shall  be  expressed,  but  the  emotions  aroused  by  the 
action  of  sacred  ideas  upon  different  temperaments  and 

219 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

divergent  artistic  methods.  There  is  no  sign  that  this 
principle  of  individual  liberty  will  be  renounced. 
Nevertheless,  the  increasing  deference  that  is  paid  to 
authority,  the  growing  study  of  the  works  and  ideals  of 
the  past  which  is  so  apparent  in  the  culture  of  the  pres- 
ent day,  will  here  and  there  issue  in  partial  reactions. 
The  mind  of  the  present,  having  seen  the  successful 
working  out  of  certain  modern  problems  and  the  barren- 
ness of  others,  is  turning  eclectic.  Nowhere  is  this 
more  evident  than  in  the  field  of  musical  culture,  both 
religious  and  secular.  We  see  that  in  many  influential 
circles  the  question  becomes  more  and  more  insistent, 
what  is  truth  and  appropriateness  ?  —  whereas  formerly 
the  demand  was  for  novelty  and  "  effect."  Under  this 
better  inspiration  many  beautiful  works  are  produced 
which  are  marked  by  dignity,  moderation,  and  an  almost 
austere  reserve,  drawing  a  sharp  distinction  between  the 
proper  ecclesiastical  tone  and  that  suited  to  concert  and 
dramatic  music,  restoring  once  more  the  idea  of  imper- 
sonality, expressing  in  song  the  conception  of  the  fathers 
that  the  Church  is  a  refuge,  a  retreat  from  the  tempests 
of  the  world,  a  place  of  penitence  and  restoration  to  con- 
fidence in  the  near  presence  of  heaven. 

Such  masses  as  the  Missa  Solemnis  of  Beethoven,  the 
D  minor  of  Cherubini,  the  Messe  Solennelle  of  Rossini, 
the  St.  Cecilia  of  Gounod,  the  Requiems  of  Berlioz  and 
Verdi,  sublime  and  unspeakably  beautiful  as  they  are  from 
the  broadly  human  standpoint,  are  yet  in  a  certain  sense 
sceptical.  They  reveal  a  mood  of  agitation  which  is  not 
that  intended  by  the  ministrations  of  the  Cliurch  in  her 
organized  acts   of  worship.     And  yet  such  works  will 

220 


THE  MODERN   MUSICAL   MASS 

continue  to  be  produced,  and  the  Church  will  accept 
them,  in  grateful  recognition  of  the  sincere  homage 
which  their  creation  implies.  It  is  of  the  nature  of  the 
highest  artistic  genius  that  it  cannot  restrain  its  own 
fierce  impulses  out  of  conformity  to  a  type  or  external 
tradition.  It  will  express  its  own  individual  emotion  or 
it  will  become  paralyzed  and  mute.  The  religious  com- 
positions that  will  humbly  jdeld  to  a  strict  liturgic 
standard  in  form  and  expression  will  be  those  of  writers 
of  the  third  or  fourth  grade,  just  as  the  church  hymns 
have  been,  with  few  exceptions,  the  production,  not  of 
the  great  poets,  but  of  men  of  lesser  artistic  endowment, 
and  who  were  primarily  churchmen,  and  poets  only  by 
second  intention.  This  will  doubtless  be  the  law  for  all 
time.  The  Michael  Angelos,  the  Dantes,  the  Beetho- 
vens  will  forever  break  over  rules,  even  though  they  be 
the  rules  of  a  beloved  mother  Church. 

The  time  is  past,  however,  when  we  may  fear  any  de- 
generacy like  to  that  which  overtook  church  music  one 
hundred  or  more  years  ago.  The  principles  of  such  con- 
secrated church  musicians  as  Witt,  Tinel,  and  the  leaders 
of  the  St.  Cecilia  Society  and  the  Paris  Schola  Cantorum, 
the  influence  of  the  will  of  the  Church  implied  in  all  her 
admonitions  on  the  subject  of  liturgic  song,  the  growing 
interest  in  the  study  of  the  masters  of  the  past,  and,  more 
than  all,  the  growth  of  sound  views  of  art  as  a  detail  of 
the  higlier  and  the  popular  education,  must  inevitably 
promote  an  increasing  conviction  among  clergy,  choir 
leaders,  and  people  of  the  importance  of  purity  and  ap- 
propriateness in  the  music  of  the  Church.  The  need  of 
reform  in  many  of  the  Catholic  churches  of  this  and  other 

221 


MUSIC  IN  THE   WESTERN  CHURCH 

countries  is  known  to  every  one.  Doubtless  one  cause 
of  the  frequent  indifference  of  priests  to  the  condition  of 
the  choir  music  in  their  churches  is  the  knowledge  that  the 
chorus  and  organ  are  after  all  but  accessories  ;  tliat  the 
Church  possesses  in  the  Gregorian  chant  a  form  of  song 
that  is  the  legal,  universal,  and  unchangeable  foundation 
of  the  musical  ceremony,  and  that  any  corruption  in  the 
gallery  music  can  never  by  any  possibility  extend  to  the 
heart  of  the  system.  The  Church  is  indeed  fortunate  in 
the  possession  of  this  altar  song,  the  unifying  chain 
which  can  never  be  loosened.  All  the  more  reason, 
therefore,  why  this  consciousness  of  unity  should  per- 
vade all  portions  of  the  ceremony,  and  the  spirit  of  the 
liturgic  chant  should  blend  even  with  the  large  freedom 
of  modern  musical  experiment. 


222 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  BISE   OP  THE  LUTHERAN   HYMNODY 

The  music  of  the  Protestant  Church  of  Germany, 
while  adopting  many  features  from  its  great  antagonist, 
presents  certain  points  of  contrast  which  are  of  the 
highest  importance  not  only  in  the  subsequent  history 
of  ecclesiastical  song,  but  also  as  significant  of  certain 
national  traits  which  were  conspicuous  among  the 
causes  of  the  schism  of  the  sixteenth  century.  The 
musical  system  of  the  Catholic  Church  proceeded  from 
the  Gregorian  chant,  which  is  strictly  a  detail  of  the 
sacerdotal  office.  The  Lutheran  music,  on  the  contrary, 
is  primarily  based  on  the  congregational  hymn.  The 
one  is  clerical,  the  other  laic ;  the  one  official,  pre- 
scribed, liturgic,  unalterable,  the  other  free,  spontaneous, 
and  democratic.  In  these  two  forms  and  ideals  we  find 
reflected  the  same  conceptions  which  especially  charac- 
terize the  doctrine,  worship,  and  government  of  these 
oppugnant  confessions. 

The  Catholic  Church,  as  we  have  seen,  was  consist- 
ent in  withdrawing  the  office  of  song  from  the  laity  and 
assigning  it  to  a  separate  company  who  were  at  first 
taken  from  the  minor  clergy,  and  who  even  in  later 
periods  were  conceived  as  exercising  a  semi-clerical 
function.     Congregational   singing,   although   not   offi- 

223 


MUSIC  IN   THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

dally  and  without  exception  discountenanced  by  the 
Catholic  Church,  has  never  been  encouraged,  and  song, 
like  prayer,  is  looked  upon  as  essentially  a  liturgic 
ofiBce. 

In  the  Protestant  Church  the  barrier  of  an  interme- 
diary priesthood  between  the  believer  and  his  God  is 
broken  down.  The  entire  membership  of  the  Christian 
body  is  recognized  as  a  univei-sal  priesthood,  with  access 
to  the  Father  through  one  mediator,  Jesus  Christ.  This 
conception  restores  the  offices  of  worship  to  the  body 
of  believers,  and  they  in  turn  delegate  their  admin- 
istration to  certain  officials,  who,  together  with  certain 
independent  privileges  attached  to  the  office,  share  with 
the  laity  in  the  determination  of  matters  of  faith  and 
polity. 

It  was  a  perfectly  natural  result  of  this  principle  that 
congregational  song  should  hold  a  place  in  the  Prot- 
estant cultus  which  the  Catholic  Church  has  never 
sanctioned.  The  one  has  promoted  and  tenaciously 
maintained  it ;  the  other  as  consistently  repressed  it,  — 
not  on  sesthetic  grounds,  nor  primarily  on  grounds  of 
devotional  effect,  but  really  through  a  more  or  less  dis- 
tinct perception  of  its  significance  in  respect  to  the 
theoretical  relationship  of  the  individual  to  the  Church, 
The  struggles  over  popular  song  in  public  worship 
which  appear  throughout  the  early  history  of  Protes- 
tantism are  thus  to  be  explained.  The  emancipated  lay- 
man found  in  the  general  hymn  a  symbol  as  well  as  an 
agent  of  the  assertion  of  his  new  rights  and  privileges 
in  the  Gospel.  The  people's  song  of  earl}'  Protestant- 
ism has  therefore  a  militant  ring.     It  marks  its  epoch 

224 


THE  RISE  OF  THE  LUTHERAN  HYMNODY 

no  less  significantly  than  Luther's  ninety-five  theses 
and  the  Augsburg  Confession.  It  was  a  sort  of  spirit- 
ual Triumphlied,  proclaiming  to  the  universe  that  the 
day  of  spiritual  emancipation  had  dawned. 

The  second  radical  distinction  between  the  music  of 
the  Protestant  Church  and  that  of  the  Catholic  is  that 
the  vernacular  language  takes  the  place  of  the  Latin. 
The  natural  desire  of  a  people  is  that  they  may  worship 
in  their  native  idiom  ;  and  since  the  secession  from  the 
ancient  Church  inevitably  resulted  in  the  formation  of 
national  or  independent  churches,  the  necessities  which 
maintained  in  the  Catholic  Church  a  common  liturgic 
language  no  longer  obtained,  and  the  people  fell  back 
upon  their  national  speech. 

Among  the  historic  groups  of  hymns  that  have  ap- 
peared since  Clement  of  Alexandria  and  Ephraem  the 
Syrian  set  in  motion  the  tide  of  Christian  song,  the 
Lutheran  hymnody  has  the  greatest  interest  to  the  stu- 
dent of  church  history.  In  sheer  literary  excellence  it 
is  undoubtedly  surpassed  by  the  Latin  hymns  of  the 
mediaeval  Church  and  the  English-American  group ;  in 
musical  merit  it  no  more  than  equals  these  ;  but  in  his- 
toric importance  the  Lutheran  song  takes  the  foremost 
place.  The  Latin  and  the  English  hymns  belong  only 
to  the  history  of  poetry  and  of  inward  spiritual  experi- 
ence ;  the  Lutheran  have  a  place  in  the  annals  of 
politics  and  doctrinal  strifes  as  well.  German  Protes- 
tant hymnody  dates  from  Martin  Luther ;  his  lyrics 
were  the  models  of  the  hymns  of  the  reformed  Church 
in  Germany  for  a  century  or  more.  The  principle  that  lay 
at  the  basis  of  his  movement  gave  them  their  character* 
16  225 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

istic  tone ;  they  were  among  the  most  efficient  agencies 
in  carrying  this  principle  to  the  mind  of  the  common 
people,  and  they  also  contributed  powerfully  to  the  en- 
thusiasm which  enabled  the  new  faith  to  maintain  itself 
in  the  conflicts  by  which  it  was  tested.  The  melodies 
to  which  the  hymns  of  Luther  and  his  followers  were  set 
became  the  foundation  of  a  musical  style  which  is  the 
one  school  worthy  to  be  placed  beside  the  Italian  Cath- 
olic music  of  the  sixteenth  century.  This  hymnody 
and  its  music  afforded  the  first  adequate  outlet  for  the 
poetic  and  musical  genius  of  the  German  people,  and 
established  the  pregnant  democratic  traditions  of  Ger- 
man art  as  against  the  aristocratic  traditions  of  Italy 
and  France.  As  we  cannot  overestimate  the  spiritual 
and  intellectual  force  which  entered  the  European  arena 
with  Luther  and  his  disciples,  so  we  must  also  recog- 
nize the  analogous  elements  which  asserted  themselves 
at  the  same  moment  and  under  the  same  inspiration  in 
the  field  of  art  expression,  and  gave  to  this  movement 
a  language  which  helps  us  in  a  peculiar  way  to  under- 
stand its  real  import. 

The  first  questions  which  present  themselves  in  tracing 
the  historic  connections  of  the  early  Lutheran  hymnody 
are :  What  was  its  origin  ?  Had  it  models,  and  if  so, 
what  and  where  were  they  ?  In  giving  a  store  of  con- 
gregational songs  to  the  German  people  was  Luther 
original,  or  only  an  imitator?  In  this  department  of 
his  work  does  he  deserve  the  honor  which  Protestants 
have  awarded  him  ? 

Protestant  writers  have,  as  a  rule,  bestowed  unstinted 
praise  upon  Luther  as  the  man  who  first  gave  the  people 

226 


THE  RISE   OF  THE  LUTHERAN  HYMNODY 

a  voice  with  which  to  utter  their  religious  emotions  in 
song.  Most  of  these  writers  are  undoubtedly  aware 
that  a  national  poesy  is  never  the  creation  of  a  single 
man,  and  that  a  brilliant  epoch  of  national  literature  or 
art  must  always  be  preceded  by  a  period  of  experiment 
and  fermentation ;  yet  they  are  disposed  to  make  little 
account  of  the  existence  of  a  popular  religious  song  in 
Germany  before  the  Reformation,  and  represent  Luther 
almost  as  performing  the  miracle  of  making  the  dumb 
to  speak.  Even  those  who  recognize  the  fact  of  a  pre- 
existing school  of  hymnody  usually  seek  to  give  the 
impression  that  pure  evangelical  religion  was  almost,  if 
not  quite,  unknown  in  the  popular  religious  poetry  of 
the  centuries  before  the  Reformation,  and  that  the 
Lutheran  hymnody  was  composed  of  altogether  novel 
elements.  They  also  ascribe  to  Luther  creative  work  in 
music  as  well  as  in  poetry.  Catholic  writers,  on  the 
other  hand,  will  allow  Luther  no  originality  whatever ; 
they  find,  or  pretend  to  find,  every  essential  feature  of 
his  work  in  the  Catholic  hymns  and  tunes  of  the  pre- 
vious centuries,  or  in  those  of  the  Bohemian  sectaries. 
They  admit  the  great  influence  of  Luther's  hymns  in 
disseminating  the  new  doctrines,  but  give  him  credit 
only  for  cleverness  in  dressing  up  his  borrowed  ideas  and 
forms  in  a  taking  popular  guise.  As  is  usually  the  case 
in  controvers}^  the  truth  lies  between  the  two  extremes. 
Luther's  originality  has  been  overrated  by  Protestants, 
and  the  true  nature  of  the  germinal  force  which  he 
imparted  to  German  congregational  song  has  been  mis- 
conceived by  Catholics.  It  was  not  new  forms,  but  a 
new  spirit,  which  Luther  gave  to  his  Church.     He  did 

227 


MUSIC  IN   THE    WESTERN   CHURCH 

not  break  with  the  past,  but  found  in  the  past  a  new 
standing-ground.  He  sought  truth  in  the  Scriptures,  in 
the  writings  of  the  fathers  and  the  mediaeval  theolo- 
gians ;  he  rejected  what  he  deemed  false  or  barren  in 
the  mother  Church,  adopted  and  developed  what  was 
true  and  fruitful,  and  moulded  it  into  forms  whose 
style  was  already  familiar  to  the  people.  In  poetry, 
music,  and  the  several  details  of  church  worship  Luther 
recast  the  old  models,  and  gave  them  to  his  followers 
with  contents  purified  and  adapted  to  those  needs  which 
he  himself  had  made  them  to  realize.  He  understood 
the  character  of  his  people ;  he  knew  where  to  find  the 
nourishment  suited  to  their  wants ;  he  knew  how  to  turn 
their  enthusiasms  into  practical  and  progressive  direc- 
tions. This  was  Luther's  achievement  in  the  sphere  of 
church  art,  and  if,  in  recognizing  the  precise  nature  of 
his  work,  we  seem  to  question  his  reputation  for  crea- 
tive genius,  we  do  him  better  justice  by  honoring  his 
practical  wisdom. 

The  singing  of  religious  songs  by  the  common  people 
in  their  own  language  in  connection  with  public  wor- 
ship did  not  begin  in  Germany  with  the  Reformation. 
The  German  popular  song  is  of  ancient  date,  and  the 
religious  lyric  always  had  a  prominent  place  in  it. 
The  Teutonic  tribes  before  their  conversion  to  Chris- 
tianity had  a  large  store  of  hymns  to  their  deities,  and 
afterward  their  musical  fervor  turned  itself  no  less 
ardently  to  the  service  of  their  new  allegiance.  Wack- 
ernagel,  in  the  second  volume  of  his  monumental  col- 
lection of  Gennan  hymns  from  the  earliest  time  to  the 
beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century,  includes  fourteen 

228 


THE  RISE   OF   THE   LUTHERAN  HYMNODY 

hundred  and  forty-eight  religious  lyrics  in  the  German 
tongue  composed  between  the  year  868  and  1518.^  This 
collection,  he  says,  is  as  complete  as  possible,  but  we 
must  suppose  that  a  very  large  number  written  before 
the  invention  of  printing  have  been  lost.  About  half 
the  hymns  in  this  volume  are  of  unknown  authorship. 
Among  the  writers  whose  names  are  given  we  find  such 
notable  poets  as  Walther  von  der  Vogelweide,  Gottfried 
von  Strassburg,  Hartmann  von  Aue,  Frauenlob,  Rein- 
mar  der  Zweter,  Kunrad  der  Marner,  Heinrich  von 
Loufenberg,  Michel  Behem,  and  Hans  Sachs,  besides 
famous  churchmen  like  Eckart  and  Tauler,  who  are  not 
otherwise  known  as  poets.  A  great  number  of  these 
poems  are  hymns  only  in  a  qualified  sense,  having  been 
written,  not  for  public  use,  but  for  private  satisfac- 
tion ;  but  many  others  are  true  hymns,  and  have  often 
resounded  from  the  mouths  of  the  people  in  social 
religious  functions. 

Down  to  the  tenth  century  the  only  practice  among 
the  Germans  that  could  be  called  a  popular  church  song 
was  the  ejaculation  of  the  words  Kyrie  eleison^  Christe 
eleison.  These  phrases,  which  are  among  the  most 
ancient  in  the  Mass  and  the  litanies,  and  which  came 
originally  from  the  Eastern  Church,  were  sung  or 
shouted  by  the  German  Christians  on  all  possible  oc- 
casions. In  processions,  on  pilgrimages,  at  burials, 
greeting  of  distinguished  visitors,  consecration  of  a 
church  or  prelate,  in  many  subordinate  liturgic 
offices,  invocations  of  supernatural  aid  in  times  of  dis- 

^  Wackernagel,    Das    deutsche  Kirchenlied  von  der  altesten  Zeit  bis  ru 
Anfang  des  XVII.  Jahrhunderts. 

229 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

tress,  on  the  march,  going  intd'ISalitter— in  alm^^^ 
every  social  action  in  which  religious  sanctions  were 
involved  the  people  were  in  duty  bound  to  utter  this 
phrase,  often  several  hundred  times  in  succession. 
The  words  were  often  abbreviated  into  Kyrieles^  Kyrie 
eleisy  Kyrielle,  Kerleis^  and  Kles,  and  sometimes  became 
mere  inarticulate  cries. 

When  the  phrase  was  formally  sung,  the  Gregorian 
tones  proper  to  it  in  the  church  service  were  employed. 
Some  of  these  were  florid  successions  of  notes,  many 
to  a  syllable,  as  in  the  Alleluia  from  which  the  Se- 
quences sprung, —  a  free,  impassioned  form  of  emotional 
utterance  which  had  extensive  use  in  the  service  of  the 
earlier  Church,  both  East  and  West,  and  which  is  still 
employed,  sometimes  to  extravagant  lengths,  in  the 
Orient.  The  custom  at  last  arose  of  setting  words  to 
these  exuberant  strains.  This  usage  took  two  forms, 
giving  rise  in  the  ritual  service  to  the  "  farced  Kyries  " 
or  Tropes,  and  in  the  freer  song  of  the  people  produc- 
ing a  more  regular  kind  of  hymn,  in  which  the  Kyrie 
eleison  became  at  last  a  mere  refrain  at  the  end  of  each 
stanza.  These  songs  came  to  be  called  Kirleisen^  or 
Leisen^  and  sometimes  Leiche,  and  they  exhibit  the 
German  congregational  hymn  in  its  first  estate. 

Religious  songs  multiplied  in  the  centuries  following 
the  tenth  almost  by  geometrical  progression.  The  tide 
reached  a  high  mark  in  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth 
centuries  under  that  extraordinary  intellectual  awaken- 
ing which  distinguished  the  epoch  of  the  Crusades,  the 
Stauffen  emperors,  the  Minnesingers,  and  the  court  epic 
poets.     Under  the  stimulus  of  the   ideals  of  chivalric 

230 


THE  RISE  OF  THE  LUTHERAN  HYMNODY 

honor  and  knightly  devotion  to  woman,  the  adoration  of 
the  Virgin  Mother,  long  cherished  in  the  bosom  of  the 
Church,  burst  forth  in  a  multitude  of  ecstatic  lyrics  in 
her  praise.  Poetic  and  musical  inspiration  was  com- 
municated by  the  courtly  poets  to  the  clergj-  and 
common  people,  and  the  love  of  singing  at  religious 
observances  grew  apace.  Certain  heretics,  who  made 
much  stir  in  this  period,  also  wrote  hymns  and  put 
them  into  the  mouths  of  the  populace,  thus  following 
the  early  example  of  the  Arians  and  the  disciples  of 
Bardasanes.  To  resist  this  perversion  of  the  divine  art, 
orthodox  songs  were  composed,  and,  as  in  the  Refor- 
mation days,  schismatics  and  Romanists  vied  with 
each  other  in  wielding  this  powerful  proselyting 
agent. 

Mystics  of  the  fourteenth  century  —  Eckart,  Tauler, 
and  others  —  wrote  hymns  of  a  new  tone,  an  inward 
spiritual  quality,  less  objective,  more  individual,  voic- 
ing a  yearning  for  an  immediate  union  of  the  soul  with 
God,  and  the  joy  of  personal  love  to  the  Redeemer. 
Poetry  of  this  nature  especially  appealed  to  the  reli- 
gious sisters,  and  from  many  a  convent  came  echoes  of 
these  chastened  raptures,  in  which  are  heard  accents  of 
longing  for  the  comforting  presence  of  the  Heavenly 
Bridegroom. 

Those  half-insane  fanatics,  the  Flagellants,  and  other 
enthusiasts  of  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries, 
also  contributed  to  the  store  of  pre-Reformation  hym- 
nody.  Hoffmann  von  Fallersleben  has  given  a  vivid 
account  of  the  barbaric  doings  of  these  bands  of 
self-tormentors,    and    it    is    evident   that    their    sing- 

231 


MUSIC  IN   THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

ing  was  not  the  least  uncanny  feature  of  their  per- 
formances.^ 

In  the  fourteenth  century  appeared  the  device  which 
played  so  large  a  part  in  the  production  of  the  Refor- 
mation hymns  —  that  of  adapting  secular  tunes  to  reli- 
gious poems,  and  also  making  religious  paraphrases  of 
secular  ditties.  Praises  of  love,  of  out-door  sport,  even 
of  wine,  by  a  few  simple  alterations  were  made  to 
express  devotional  sentiments.  A  good  illustration  of 
this  practice  is  the  recasting  of  the  favorite  folk-song, 
"Den  liepsten  Bulen  den  ich  han,"  into  "Den  liepsten 
Herren  den  ich  han."  Much  more  common,  however, 
was  the  transfer  of  melodies  from  profane  poems  to 
religious,  a  method  which  afterward  became  an  impor- 
tant reliance  for  supplying  the  reformed  congregations 
with  hymn-tunes. 

Mixed  songs,  part  Latin  and  part  German,  were  at 
one  time  much  in  vogue.     A  celebrated  example  is  the 

"  In  dulce  jubilo 
Nu  singet  und  seyt  fro  " 

of  the  fourteenth  century,  which  has  often  been  heard 
in  the  reformed  churches  down  to  a  recent  period. 

In  the  fifteenth  century  the  popular  religious  song 
flourished  with  an  affluence  hardly  surpassed  even  in 
the  first  two  centuries  of  Protestantism.  Still  under 
the  control  of  the  Catholic  doctrine  and  discipline,  it 
nevertheless  betokens  a  certain  restlessness  of  mind ; 
the  native  individualism  of  the  German  spirit  is  pre- 

1  Hoffmann  von  Fallersleben,  Geschichte  des  deutschen  Kirchenliedes  bis 
auf  Luther's  Zeit. 

232 


THE  RISE   OF   THE  LUTHERAN  HYMNODY 

paring  to  assert  itself.  The  fifteenth  was  a  century  of 
stir  and  inquiry,  full  of  premonitions  of  the  upheaval 
soon  to  follow.  The  Revival  of  Learning  began  to 
shake  Germany,  as  well  as  Southern  and  Western 
Earope,  out  of  its  superstition  and  intellectual  sub- 
jection. The  religious  and  political  movements  in 
Bohemia  and  Moravia,  set  in  motion  by  the  preaching 
and  martyrdom  of  Hus,  produced  strong  eflFect  in 
Germany.  Hus  struck  at  some  of  the  same  abuses 
that  aroused  the  wrath  of  Luther,  notably  the  traffic  in 
indulgences.  The  demand  for  the  use  of  the  vernac- 
ular in  church  worship  was  even  more  fundamental 
than  the  similar  desire  in  Germany,  and  preceded 
rather  than  followed  the  movement  toward  reform. 
Hus  was  also  a  prototype  of  Luther  in  that  he  was 
virtually  the  founder  of  the  Bohemian  hymnody.  He 
wrote  hymns  both  in  Latin  and  in  Czech,  and  earnestly 
encouraged  the  use  of  vernacular  songs  by  the  people. 
The  Utraquists  published  a  song-book  in  the  Czech 
language  in  1501,  and  the  Unitas  Fratrum  one,  contain- 
ing four  hundred  hymns,  in  1505.  These  two  ante- 
dated the  first  Lutheran  hymn-book  by  about  twenty 
years.  The  Bohemian  reformers,  like  Luther  after 
them,  based  their  poetry  upon  the  psalms,  the  ancient 
Latin  hymns,  and  the  olrl  vernacular  religious  songs; 
they  improved  existing  texts,  and  set  new  hymns  in 
place  of  those  that  contained  objectionable  doctrinal 
features.  Their  tunes  also  were  derived,  like  those  of 
the  German  reformers,  from  older  religious  and  secular 
melodies. 
These   achievements   of    the   Bohemians,    answering 

233 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

popular  needs  that  exist  at  all  times,  could  not  remain 
without  influence  upon  the  Germans.  Encouragement 
to  religious  expression  in  the  vernacular  was  also 
exerted  by  certain  religious  communities  known  as 
Brethren  of  the  Common  Life,  which  originated  in 
Holland  in  the  latter  part  of  the  fourteenth  century, 
and  extended  into  North  and  Middle  Germany  in  the 
fifteenth.  Thomas  a  Kempis  was  a  member  of  this 
order.  The  purpose  of  these  Brethren  was  to  inculcate 
a  purer  religious  life  among  the  people,  especially  the 
young;  and  they  made  it  a  ground  principle  that  the 
national  language  should  be  used  so  far  as  possible  in 
prayer  and  song.  Particularly  effective  in  the  culture 
of  sacred  poetry  and  music  among  the  artisan  class  were 
the  schools  of  the  Mastersingers,  which  flourished  all 
over  Germany  in  the  fourteenth,  fifteenth,  and  sixteenth 
centuries. 

Standing  upon  the  threshold  of  the  Reformation,  and 
looking  back  over  the  period  that  elapsed  since  the 
pagan  myths  and  heroic  lays  of  the  North  began  to 
yield  to  the  metrical  gospel  narrative  of  the  "  Heliand  " 
and  the  poems  of  Otfried,  we  can  trace  the  same  union 
of  pious  desire  and  poetic  instinct  which,  in  a  more 
enlightened  age,  produced  the  one  hundred  thousand 
evangelical  hymns  of  Germany.  The  pre-Reformation 
hymns  are  of  the  highest  importance  as  casting  light 
upon  the  condition  of  religious  belief  among  the 
German  laity.  We  find  in  them  a  great  variety  of 
elements,  —  much  that  is  pure,  noble,  and  strictly 
evangelical,  mixed  with  crudity,  superstition,  and  crass 
realism.     In  the  nature  of  the  case  they  do  not,  on  the 

234 


THE  RISE   OF  THE  LUTHERAN  HYMNODY 

whole,  rise  to  the  poetic  and  spiritual  level  of  the 
contemporary  Latin  hymns  of  the  Church.  There  is 
nothing  in  them  comparable  with  the  Dies  Irae, 
the  Stabat  Mater,  the  Hora  Novissima,  the  Veni 
Sancte  Spiritus,  the  Ad  Perennis  Vitse  Fontem,  the 
Passion  Hymns  of  St.  Bernard,  or  scores  that  might 
be  named  which  make  up  the  golden  chaplet  of  Latin 
religious  verse  from  Hilary  to  Xavier.  The  latter  is 
the  poetry  of  the  cloister,  the  work  of  men  separated 
from  the  world,  upon  whom  asceticism  and  scholastic 
philosophizing  had  worked  to  refine  and  subtilize  their 
conceptions.  It  is  the  poetry,  not  of  laymen,  but  of 
priests  and  monks,  the  special  and  peculiar  utterance 
of  a  sacerdotal  class,  wrapt  in  intercessory  functions, 
straining  ever  for  glimpses  of  the  Beatific  Vision, 
whose  one  absorbing  effort  was  to  emancipate  the  soul 
from  time  and  discipline  it  for  eternity.  It  is  poetry 
of  and  for  the  temple,  the  sacramental  mysteries,  the 
hours  of  prayer,  for  seasons  of  solitary  meditation;  it 
blends  with  the  dim  light  sifted  through  stained  cathe- 
dral windows,  with  incense,  with  majestic  music.  The 
simple  layman  was  not  at  home  in  such  an  atmosphere 
as  this,  and  the  Latin  hymn  was  not  a  familiar  expres- 
sion of  his  thought.  His  mental  training  was  of  a  coarser, 
more  commonplace  order.  He  must  particularize,  his 
religious  feeling  must  lay  hold  of  something  more  tan- 
gible, something  that  could  serve  his  childish  views  of 
things,  and  enter  into  some  practical  relation  with  the 
needs  of  his  ordinary  mechanical  existence. 

The  religious  folk-song,  therefore,  shows  many  traits 
similar  to  those  found  in  the  secular  folk-song,  and  we 

235 


Mt/SiC  IN  TH^   WESTERN  CHURCH 

can  easily  perceive  the  influence  of  one  upon  the  other. 
In  both  we  can  see  how  receptive  the  common  people  were 
to  anything  that  savored  of  the  marvellous,  and  how  their 
minds  dwelt  more  upon  the  external  wonder  than  upon 
the  lesson  that  it  brings.  The  connection  of  these 
poems  with  the  ecclesiastical  dramas,  which  form  such 
a  remarkable  chapter  in  the  history  of  religious  instruc- 
tion in  the  Middle  Age,  is  also  apparent,  and  scores  of 
them  are  simply  narratives  of  the  Nativity,  the  Cruci- 
fixion, the  Resurrection,  and  the  Ascension,  told  over 
and  over  in  almost  identical  language.  These  German 
hj'mns  show  in  what  manner  the  dogmas  and  usages  of 
the  Church  took  root  in  the  popular  heart,  and  affected 
the  spirit  of  the  time.  In  all  other  mediceval  literature 
we  have  the  testimony  of  the  higher  class  of  minds,  the 
men  of  education,  who  were  saved  by  their  reflective 
intelligence  from  falling  into  the  grosser  superstitions, 
or  at  least  from  dwelling  in  them.  But  in  the  folk 
poetry  the  great  middle  class  throws  back  the  ideas 
imposed  by  its  religious  teachers,  tinged  by  its  own 
crude  mental  operations.  The  result  is  that  we  have 
in  these  poems  the  doctrinal  perversions  and  the  my- 
thology of  the  Middle  Age  set  forth  in  their  baldest 
form.  Beliefs  that  are  the  farthest  removed  from  the 
teaching  of  the  Scriptures,  are  carried  to  lengths  which 
the  Catholic  Church  has  never  authoritatively  sanc- 
tioned, but  which  are  natural  consequences  of  the 
action  of  her  dogmas  upon  untrained,  superstitious 
minds.  There  are  hymns  which  teach  the  preexist- 
ence  of  Mary  with  God  before  the  creation;  that  in 
and  through  her  all  things  were  created.     Others,  not 

236 


THE  RISE   OF  THE  LUTHERAN  HYMNODY 

content  with  the  church  doctrine  of  her  intercessory 
office  in  heaven,  represent  her  as  commanding  and 
controlling  her  Son,  and  even  as  forgiving  sins  in  her 
own  right.  Hagiolatry,  also,  is  carried  to  its  most 
dubious  extremity.  Power  is  ascribed  to  the  saints  to 
save  from  the  pains  of  hell.  In  one  hymn  they  are 
implored  to  intercede  with  God  for  the  sinner,  because, 
the  writer  says,  God  will  not  deny  their  prayer.  It  is 
curious  to  see  in  some  of  these  poems  that  the  attributes 
of  love  and  compassion,  which  have  been  removed  from 
the  Father  to  the  Son,  and  from  the  Son  to  the  Virgin 
Mother,  are  again  transferred  to  St.  Ann,  who  is  im- 
plored to  intercede  with  her  daughter  in  behalf  of  the 
suppliant. 

All  this,  and  much  more  of  a  similar  sort,  the  prod- 
uct of  vulgar  error  and  distorted  thinking,  cannot  be 
gainsaid.  But  let  us,  with  equal  candor,  acknowledge 
that  there  is  a  bright  side  to  this  subject.  Corruption 
and  falsehood  are  not  altogether  typical  of  the  German 
religious  poetry  of  the  Middle  Age.  Many  Protestant 
writers  represent  the  mediaeval  German  hymns  as 
chiefly  given  over  to  mariolatry  and  much  debasing 
superstition,  and  as  therefore  indicative  of  the  religious 
state  of  the  nation.  This,  however,  is  very  far  from 
being  the  case,  as  a  candid  examination  of  such  a 
collection  as  Wackernagel's  will  show.  Take  out 
everything  that  a  severe  Protestant  would  reject,  and 
there  remains  a  large  body  of  poetry  which  flows  from 
the  pure,  undefiled  springs  of  Christian  faith,  which 
from  the  evangelical  standpoint  is  true  and  edifying, 
gems  of  expression  not  to  be  matched  by  the  poetry  of 

237 


MUSIC  IN  THE   WESTERN  CHURCH 

Luther  and  his  friends  in  simplicity  and  refinement  of 
language.  Ideas  common  to  the  hymnody  of  all  ages 
are  to  be  found  there.  One  comes  to  mind  in  which 
there  is  carried  out  in  the  most  touching  way  the 
thought  of  John  Newton  in  his  most  famous  hymn, 
where  in  vision  the  look  of  the  crucified  Christ  seems 
to  charge  the  arrested  sinner  with  his  death.  Another 
lovely  poem  expresses  the  shrinking  of  the  disciple  in 
consciousness  of  mortal  frailty  when  summoned  by 
Christ  to  take  up  the  cross,  and  the  comfort  that  he 
receives  from  the  Saviour's  assurance  of  his  own  suffi- 
cient grace.  A  celebrated  hymn  by  Tauler  describes  a 
ship  sent  from  heaven  by  the  Father,  containing  Jesus, 
who  comes  as  our  Redeemer,  and  who  asks  personal 
devotion  to  himself  and  a  willingness  to  live  and  die 
with  and  for  him.  Others  set  forth  the  atoning  work 
of  Christ's  death,  without  mention  of  any  other  condi- 
tion of  salvation.  Others  implore  the  direct  guidance 
and  protection  of  Christ,  as  in  the  exquisite  cradle 
hymn  of  Heinrich  von  Loufenberg,  which  is  not  sur- 
passed in  tenderness  and  beauty  by  anything  in  Keble's 
Lyra  Innocentium,  or  the  child  verses  of  Blake. 

This  mass  of  hymns  covers  a  wide  range  of  topics: 
God  in  his  various  attributes,  including  mercy  and  a 
desire  to  pardon,  — •  a  conception  which  many  suppose 
to  have  been  absent  from  the  thought  of  the  Middle 
Age;  the  Trinity;  Christ  in  the  various  scenes  of  his 
life,  and  as  head  of  the  Church ;  admonitions,  confes- 
sions, translations  of  psalms,  poems  to  be  sung  on 
pilgrimages,  funeral  songs,  political  songs,  and  many 
more  which  touch  upon  true  relations  between  man  and 

238 


THE  RISE   OF  THE  LUTHERAN  HYMNODY 

the  divine.  There  is  a  wonderful  pathos  in  this  great 
body  of  national  poetry,  for  it  makes  us  see  the  dim 
but  honest  striving  of  the  heart  of  the  noble  German 
people  after  that  which  is  sure  and  eternal,  and  which 
could  offer  assurance  of  compensation  amid  the  doubt 
and  turmoil  of  that  age  of  strife  and  tyranny.  The 
true  and  the  false  in  this  poetry  were  alike  the  outcome 
of  the  conditions  of  the  time  and  the  authoritative 
religious  teaching.  The  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  cen- 
turies, in  spite  of  the  abuses  which  made  the  Reforma- 
tion necessary,  contained  many  saintly  lives,  beneficent 
institutions,  much  philanthropy,  and  inspired  love  of 
God.  All  these  have  their  witness  in  many  products 
of  that  era,  and  we  need  look  no  further  than  the 
raedijEval  religious  poetry  to  find  elements  which  show 
that  on  the  spiritual  side  the  Reformation  was  not 
strictly  a  moral  revolution,  restoring  a  lost  religious 
feeling,  but  rather  an  intellectual  process,  establishing 
a  hereditary  piety  upon  reasonable  and  Scriptural 
foundations. 

We  see,  therefore,  how  far  Luther  was  from  being 
the  founder  of  German  hymnody.  In  trying  to  dis- 
cover what  his  great  service  to  religious  song  really 
was,  we  must  go  on  to  the  next  question  that  is 
involved,  and  ask.  What  was  the  status  and  employ- 
ment of  the  folk-hymn  before  the  Reformation?  Was 
it  in  a  true  sense  a  church  song?  Had  it  a  recognized 
place  in  the  public  service?  Was  it  at  all  liturgic, 
as  the  Lutheran  hymn  certainly  was?  This  brings  us 
to  a  definitive  distinction  between  the  two  schools  of 
hymnody. 

239 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

The  attitude  of  the  Catholic  Church  to  congregational 
singing  has  often  been  discussed,  and  is  at  pres- 
ent the  object  of  a  great  deal  of  misconception.  The 
fact  of  the  matter  is,  that  she  ostensibly  encourages  the 
people  to  share  in  some  of  the  subordinate  Latin  offices, 
but  the  very  spirit  of  the  liturgy  and  the  development 
of  musical  practice  have  in  course  of  time,  with  now  and 
then  an  exception,  reduced  the  congregation  to  silence. 
Before  the  invention  of  harmony  all  church  music  had 
more  of  the  quality  of  popular  music,  and  the  priesthood 
encouraged  the  worshipers  to  join  their  voices  in  those 
parts  of  the  service  which  were  not  confined  by  the 
rubrics  to  the  ministers.  But  the  Gregorian  chant  was 
never  really  adopted  by  the  people,  —  its  practical  diffi- 
culties, and  especially  the  inflexible  insistence  upon  the 
use  of  Latin  in  all  the  offices  of  worship,  virtually  con- 
fined it  to  the  priests  and  a  small  body  of  trained  singers. 
The  very  conception  and  spirit  of  the  liturgy,  also,  has 
by  a  law  of  historic  development  gradually  excluded  the 
people  from  active  participation.  Whatever  may  have 
been  the  thought  of  the  fathers  of  the  liturgy,  the 
eucharistic  service  has  come  to  be  simply  the  vehicle  of 
a  sacrifice  offered  by  and  through  the  priesthood  for  the 
people,  not  a  tribute  of  praise  and  supplication  emanating 
from  the  congregation  itself.  The  attitude  of  the  wor- 
shiper is  one  of  obedient  faith,  both  in  the  supernatural 
efficacy  of  the  sacrifice  and  the  mediating  authority  of 
the  celebrant.  The  liturgy  is  inseparably  bound  up  with 
tlie  central  act  of  consecration  and  oblation,  and  is  con- 
ceived as  itself  possessing  a  divine  sanction.  The  liturgy 
is  not  in  any  sense  the  creation  of  the  people,  but  comes 

240 


THE  RISE  OF  THE  LUTHERAN  HVMNODV 

down  to  them  from  a  higher  source,  the  gradual  produc- 
tion of  men  believed  to  have  been  inspired  by  the  Holy 
Spirit,  and  is  accepted  by  the  laity  as  a  divinely  autho- 
rized means  in  the  accomplishment  of  the  supreme  sacer- 
dotal function.  The  sacrifice  of  the  Mass  is  performed 
for  the  people,  but  not  through  the  people,  nor  even 
necessarily  in  their  presence.  And  so  it  has  come  to 
pass  that,  although  the  Catholic  Church  has  never  offi- 
cially recognized  the  existence  of  the  modern  mixed 
choir,  and  does  not  in  its  rubrics  authorize  any  manner  of 
singing  except  the  unison  Gregorian  chant,  nevertheless, 
by  reason  of  the  expansion  and  specialization  of  musical 
art,  and  the  increasing  veneration  of  the  liturgy  as  the 
very  channel  of  descending  sacramental  grace,  the  people 
are  reduced  to  a  position  of  passive  receptivity. 

As  regards  the  singing  of  hymns  in  the  national 
languages,  the  conditions  are  somewhat  different.  The 
laws  of  the  Catholic  Church  forbid  the  vernacular  in  any 
part  of  the  eucharistic  service,  but  permit  vernacular 
hymns  in  certain  subordinate  offices,  as,  for  instance, 
Vespers.  But  even  in  these  services  the  restrictions  are 
more  emphasized  than  the  permissions.  Here  also  the 
tacit  recognition  of  a  separation  of  function  between  the 
clergy  and  the  laity  still  persists ;  there  can  never  be  a 
really  sympathetic  cooperation  between  the  church  lan- 
guage and  the  vernacular;  there  is  a  constant  attitude 
of  suspicion  on  the  part  of  the  authorities,  lest  the 
people's  hymn  should  afford  a  rift  for  the  subtle  in- 
trusion of  heretical  or  unchurchly  ideas. 

The  whole  spirit  and  implied  theory  of  the  Catholic 
Church  is  therefore  unfavorable  to  popular  hymnody. 
16  241 


MUSIC  IN   THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

This  was  especially  the  case  in  the  latter  Middle  Age. 
The  people  could  put  no  heart  into  the  singing  of  Latin. 
The  priests  and  monks,  especially  in  such  convent 
schools  as  St.  Gall,  Fulda,  Metz,  and  Reichenau,  made 
heroic  efforts  to  drill  their  rough  disciples  in  the  Gre- 
gorian chant,  but  their  attempts  were  ludicrously  futile. 
Vernacular  hymns  were  simply  tolerated  on  certain 
prescribed  occasions.  In  the  century  or  more  following 
the  Reformation,  the  Catholic  musicians  and  clergy, 
taught  by  the  astonishing  popular  success  of  the  Luth- 
eran songs,  tried  to  inaugurate  a  similar  movement  in 
their  own  ranks,  and  the  publication  and  use  of  Catholic 
German  hymn-books  attained  large  dimensions ;  but  this 
enthusiasm  finally  died  out.  Both  in  mediaeval  and  in 
modern  times  there  has  practically  remained  a  chasm 
between  the  musical  practice  of  the  common  people  and 
that  of  the  Church,  and  in  spite  of  isolated  attempts  to 
encourage  popular  hymnody,  the  restrictions  have 
always  had  a  depressing  effect,  and  the  free,  hearty  union 
of  clergy  and  congregation  in  choral  praise  and  prayer  is 
virtually  unknown. 

The  new  conceptions  of  the  relationship  of  man  to 
God,  which  so  altered  the  fundamental  principle  and  the 
external  forms  of  worship  under  the  Lutheran  movement, 
manifested  themselves  most  strikingly  in  the  mighty  im- 
petus given  to  congregational  song.  Luther  set  the 
national  impulse  free,  and  taught  the  people  that  in  sing- 
ing praise  they  were  performing  a  service  that  was  well 
pleasing  to  God  and  a  necessary  part  of  public  com- 
munion with  him.  It  was  not  simply  that  Luther 
charged  the  popular  hymnody  with  the  energy  of   his 

242 


THE  RISE   OF  THE  LUTHERAN  HYMNODY 

world-transforming  doctrine,  —  he  also  gave  it  a  dignity 
which  it  had  never  possessed  before,  certainly  not  since 
the  apostolic  age,  as  a  part  of  the  official  liturgic  song 
of  the  Church.  Both  these  facts  gave  the  folk-hymn  its 
wonderful  proselyting  power  in  the  sixteentli  century, 
—  the  latter  gives  it  its  importance  in  the  history  of 
church  music. 

Luther's  work  for  the  people's  song  was  in  substance 
a  detail  of  his  liturgic  reform.  His  knowledge  of 
human  nature  taught  him  the  value  of  set  forms  and 
ceremonies,  and  his  appreciation  of  what  was  universally 
true  and  edifying  in  the  liturgy  of  the  mother  Church 
led  him  to  retain  many  of  her  prayers,  hymns,  responses, 
etc.,  along  with  new  provisions  of  his  own.  But  in  his 
view  the  service  is  constituted  through  the  activity  of 
the  believing  subject ;  the  forms  and  expressions  of  wor- 
ship are  not  in  themselves  indispensable  —  the  one  thing 
necessary  is  faith,  and  the  forms  of  worship  have  their 
value  simply  in  defining,  inculcating,  stimulating  and 
directing  this  faith,  and  enforcing  the  proper  attitude  of 
the  soul  toward  God  in  the  public  social  act  of  devotion. 
The  congregational  song  both  symbolized  and  realized 
the  principle  of  direct  access  of  the  believer  to  the 
Father,  and  thus  exemplified  in  itself  alone  the  whole 
spirit  of  the  worship  of  the  new  Church.  That  this  act 
of  worship  should  be  in  the  native  language  of  the 
nation  was  a  matter  of  course,  and  hence  the  popular 
hymn,  set  to  familiar  and  appropriate  melody,  became  at 
once  the  characteristic,  official,  and  liturgic  expression 
of  the  emotion  of  the  people  in  direct  communion  with 
God. 

243 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

The  immense  consequence  of  this  principle  was  seen 
in  the  outburst  of  song  that  followed  the  founding 
of  the  new  Church  by  Luther  at  Wittenberg,  It  was 
not  that  the  nation  was  electrified  by  a  poetic  genius, 
or  by  any  new  form  of  musical  excitement;  it  was 
simply  that  the  old  restraints  upon  self-expression  were 
removed,  and  that  the  people  could  celebrate  their 
new-found  freedom  in  Christ  Jesus  by  means  of  the 
most  intense  agency  known  to  man,  which  they  had  been 
prepared  by  inherited  musical  temperament  and  ancient 
habit  to  use  to  the  full.  No  wonder  that  they  received 
this  privilege  with  thanksgiving,  and  that  the  land  re- 
sounded with  the  lyrics  of  faith  and  hope. 

Luther  felt  his  mission  to  be  that  of  a  purifier,  not  a 
destroyer.  He  would  repudiate,  not  the  good  and  evil 
alike  in  the  ancient  Church,  but  only  that  which  he  con- 
sidered false  and  pernicious.  This  judicious  conserva- 
tism was  strikingly  shown  in  his  attitude  toward  the 
liturgy  and  form  of  worship,  which  he  would  alter  only 
so  far  as  was  necessary  in  view  of  changes  in  doctrine 
and  in  the  whole  relation  of  the  Church  as  a  body  toward 
the  individual.  The  altered  conception  of  the  nature  of 
the  eucharist,  the  abolition  of  homage  to  the  Virgin  and 
saints,  the  prominence  given  to  the  sermon  as  the  central 
feature  of  the  service,  the  substitution  of  the  vernacular 
for  Latin,  the  intimate  participation  of  the  congregation 
in  the  service  by  means  of  hymn-singing,  —  all  these 
changes  required  a  recasting  of  the  order  of  worship ; 
but  everything  in  the  old  ritual  that  was  consistent  with 
these  changes  was  retained.  Luther,  like  the  founders 
of  the  reformed  Church  of  England,  was  profoundly  con- 

244 


THE  RISE   OF  THE  LUTHERAN  HYMNODY 

scious  of  the  truth  and  beauty  of  many  of  the  prayers 
and  hymns  of  the  mother  Church.  Especially  was  he 
attached  to  her  music,  and  would  preserve  the  composi- 
tions of  the  learned  masters  alongside  of  the  revived 
congregational  hymn. 

As  regards  the  form  and  manner  of  service,  Luther's 
improvements  were  directed  (1)  to  the  revision  of  the 
liturgy,  (2)  the  introduction  of  new  hymns,  and  (3)  the 
arrangement  of  suittible  melodies  for  congregational  use. 

Luther's  program  of  liturgic  reform  is  chiefly  em- 
bodied in  two  orders  of  worship  drawn  up  for  the 
churches  of  Wittenberg,  viz.,  the  Formula  Missae  of 
1523  and  the  Deutsche  Messe  of  1526. 

Luther  rejected  absolutely  the  Catholic  conception  of 
the  act  of  worship  as  in  itself  possessed  of  objective 
efficacy.  The  terms  of  salvation  are  found  only  in  the 
Gospel ;  the  worship  acceptable  to  God  exists  only  in  the 
contrite  attitude  of  the  heart,  and  the  acceptance  through 
faith  of  the  plan  of  redemption  as  provided  in  the  vica- 
rious atonement  of  Christ.  The  external  act  of  worship 
in  prayer,  praise,  Scripture  recitation,  etc.,  is  designed  as 
a  testimony  of  faith,  an  evidence  of  thankfulness  to  God 
for  his  infinite  grace,  and  as  a  means  of  edification  and 
of  kindling  the  devotional  spirit  through  the  reactive 
influence  of  its  audible  expression.  The  correct  per- 
formance of  a  ceremony  was  to  Luther  of  little  account ; 
the  essential  was  the  prayerful  disposition  of  the  heart 
and  the  devout  acceptance  of  the  word  of  Scripture. 
The  substance  of  worship,  said  Luther,  is  "  that  our  dear 
Lord  speaks  with  us  through  his  Holy  Word,  and  we 
in  return  speak  with  him  through  prayer  and  song  of 

245 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

praise."  The  sermon  is  of  the  greatest  importance  as 
an  ally  of  the  reading  of  the  Word.  The  oflBce  of  wor- 
ship must  be  viewed  as  a  means  of  instruction  as  weU  as 
a  rite  contrived  as  the  promoter  and  expression  of 
religious  emotion ;  the  believer  is  in  no  wise  to  be  con- 
sidered as  having  attained  to  complete  ripeness  and 
maturity,  since  if  it  were  so  religious  worship  would  be 
unnecessary.  Such  a  goal  is  not  to  be  attained  on  earth. 
The  Christian,  said  Luther,  "needs  baptism,  the  Word, 
and  the  sacrament,  not  as  a  perfected  Christian,  but  as  a 
sinner." 

The  Formula  Missae  of  1523  was  only  a  provisional 
office,  and  may  be  called  an  expurgated  edition  of  the 
Catholic  Mass.  It  is  in  Latin,  and  follows  the  order  of 
the  Roman  liturgy  Avith  certain  omissions,  viz.,  all  the 
preliminary  action  at  the  altar  as  far  as  the  Introit,  the 
Offertory,  the  Oblation  and  accompanying  prayers  as 
far  as  the  Preface,  the  Consecration,  the  Commemora- 
tion of  the  Dead,  and  everything  following  the  Agnus 
Dei  except  the  prayer  of  thanksgiving  and  benediction. 
That  is  to  say,  everything  is  removed  which  character- 
izes the  Mass  as  a  priestly,  sacrificial  act,  or  which  recog- 
nizes the  intercessory  office  of  the  saints.  The  musical 
factors  correspond  to  the  usage  in  the  Catholic  Mass ; 
Luther's  hymns  with  accompanying  melodies  were  not 
yet  prepared,  and  no  trace  of  the  Protestant  choral 
appears  in  the  Fonnula  Missae. 

Although  this  order  of  1523  was  conceived  only  as  a 
partial  or  temporary  expedient,  it  was  by  no  means  set 
entirely  aside  by  its  author,  even  after  the  composition 
of  a  form  more  adapted  to  the  needs  of  the  people.     In 

246 


THE  RISE  OF  THE  LUTHERAN  HYMNODY 

the  preface  to  the  Deutsche  Messe  of  1526,  Luther  cites 
the  Latin  Formula  Missse  as  possessing  a  special  value. 
"  This  I  will  not  abandon  or  have  altered ;  but  as  we 
have  kept  it  with  us  heretofore,  so  must  we  still  be  free 
lo  use  the  same  where  and  when  it  pleases  us  or  occasion 
requires.  I  will  by  no  means  permit  the  Latin  speech 
to  be  dropped  out  of  divine  worship,  since  it  is  impor- 
tant for  the  youth.  And  if  I  were  able,  and  the  Greek 
and  Hebrew  languages  were  as  common  with  us  as  the 
Latin,  and  had  as  much  music  and  song  as  the  Latin  has, 
we  should  hold  Masses,  sing  and  read  every  Sunday  in 
all  four  languages,  German,  Latin,  Greek,  and  Hebrew." 
It  is  important,  he  goes  on  to  say,  that  the  youth  should 
be  familiar  with  more  languages  than  their  own,  in  order 
that  they  may  be  able  to  give  instruction  in  the  true 
doctrine  to  those  not  of  their  own  nation,  Latin  espe- 
cially approving  itself  for  this  purpose  as  the  common 
dialect  of  cultivated  men. 

The  Deutsche  Messe  of  1526,  Luther  explains,  was 
drawn  up  for  the  use  of  the  mass  of  the  people,  who 
needed  a  medium  of  worship  and  instruction  which  was 
already  familiar  and  native  to  them.  This  form  is  a  still 
further  simplification,  as  compared  with  the  Formula 
MisScC,  and  consists  almost  entirely  of  offices  in  the 
German  tongue.  Congregational  chorals  also  have  a 
prominent  place,  since  the  publication  of  collections  of 
vernacular  religious  songs  had  begun  two  years  before. 
This  liturgy  consists  of  (1)  a  people's  hymn  or  a  Ger- 
man psalm,  (2)  Kyrie  eleison,  (3)  Collect,  (4)  the 
Epistle,  (5)  congregational  hymn,  (6)  the  Gospel,  (7) 
the  German  paraphrase  of  the  Creed,  "  Wie  glauben  all' 

247 


MUSIC  IN   THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

an  einen  Gott,"  sung  by  the  people ;  next  follows  the 
sennon ;  (8)  the  Lord's  Prayer  and  exhortation  prelimi- 
nary to  the  Sacrament,  (9)  the  words  of  institution  and 
elevation,  (10)  distribution  of  the  bread,  (11)  singing 
of  the  German  Sanctus  or  the  hymn  "  Jesus  Christus 
unser  Heiland,"  (12)  distribution  of  the  wine,  (13) 
Agnus  Dei,  a  German  hymn,  or  the  German  Sanctus, 
(14)  Collect  of  thanksgiving,  (15)  Benediction. 

It  was  far  from  Luther's  purpose  to  impose  these  or 
any  particular  forms  of  worship  upon  his  followers 
through  a  personal  assumption  of  authority.  He  reiter- 
ates, in  his  preface  to  the  Deutsche  Messe,  that  he  has 
no  thought  of  assuming  any  right  of  dictation  in  the 
matter,  emphasizing  his  desire  that  the  churches  should 
enjoy  entire  freedom  in  their  forms  and  manner  of 
worship.  At  the  same  time  he  realizes  the  benefits  of 
uniformity  as  creating  a  sense  of  unity  and  solidarity 
in  faith,  practice,  and  interests  among  the  various  dis- 
tricts, cities,  and  congregations,  and  offers  these  two 
forms  £18  in  his  opinion  conservative  and  efficient.  He 
warns  his  people  against  the  injury  that  may  result 
from  the  multiplication  of  liturgies  at  the  instigation  of 
indiscreet  or  vain  leaders,  who  have  in  view  the  per- 
petuation of  certain  notions  of  their  own,  rather  than 
the  honor  of  God  and  the  spiritual  welfare  of  their 
neighbors. 

In  connection  with  this  work  of  reconstructing  the 
ancient  liturgy  for  use  in  the  Wittenberg  churches, 
Luther  turned  his  attention  to  the  need  of  suitable 
hymns  and  tunes.  He  took  up  this  work  not  only  out 
of  his  love  of  song,  but  also  from  necessity.     He  wrote 

248 


THE   RISE   OF  THE  LUTHERAN  HYMNODY 

to  Nicholas  Haussmann,  pastor  at  Zwickau :  "  I  would 
that  we  had  many  German  songs  which  the  people 
could  sing  during  the  Mass.  But  we  lack  German 
poets  and  musicians,  or  they  are  unknown  to  us,  who 
are  able  to  make  Christian  and  spiritual  songs,  as  Paul 
calls  them,  which  are  of  such  value  that  they  can  be 
used  daily  in  the  house  of  God.  One  can  find  but  few 
that  have  the  appropriate  spirit."  The  reason  for  this 
complaint  was  short-lived  ;  a  crowd  of  hymnists  sprang 
up  as  if  by  magic,  and  among  them  Luther  was,  as  in 
all  things,  chief.  His  work  as  a  hymn  writer  began 
soon  after  the  completion  of  his  translation  of  the  New 
Testament,  wliile  he  was  engaged  in  translating  the 
psalms.  Then,  as  Koch  says,  "  the  spirit  of  the  psalm- 
ists and  prophets  came  over  him."  Several  allusions  in 
his  letters  show  that  he  took  the  psalms  as  his  model ; 
that  is  to  say,  he  did  not  think  of  a  hymn  as  designed 
for  the  teaching  of  dogma,  but  as  the  sincere,  spon- 
taneous outburst  of  love  and  reverence  to  God  for  his 
goodness. 

The  first  hymn-book  of  evangelical  Germany  was 
published  in  1524  by  Luther's  friend  and  coadjutor, 
Johann  Walther.  It  confciined  four  hymns  by  Luther, 
three  by  Paul  Speratus,  and  one  by  an  unknown  author. 
Another  book  appeared  in  the  same  year  containing 
fourteen  more  hymns  by  Luther,  in  addition  to  the  eight 
of  the  first  book.  Six  more  from  Luther's  pen  appeared 
in  a  song-book  edited  by  Walther  in  1525.  The  remain- 
ing hymns  of  Luther  (twelve  in  number)  were  printed 
in  five  song-books  of  different  dates,  ending  with  King's 
in  1543.     Four  hymn-books  contain  prefaces  by  Luther, 

249 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

the  first  written  for  Walther's  book  of  1525,  and  the 
last  for  one  published  by  Papst  in  1545.  Luther's 
example  was  contagious.  Other  hymn  writers  at  once 
sprang  up,  who  were  filled  with  Luther's  spirit,  and 
who  took  his  songs  as  models.  Printing  presses  were 
kept  busy,  song-books  were  multiplied,  until  at  the  time 
of  Luther's  death  no  less  than  sixty  collections,  count- 
ing the  various  editions,  had  been  issued.  There  was 
reason  for  the  sneering  remark  of  a  Catholic  that  the 
people  were  singing  themselves  into  the  Lutheran 
doctrine.  The  principles  of  worship  promulgated  by 
Luther  and  implied  in  his  liturgic  arrangements  were 
adopted  by  all  the  Protestant  communities ;  whatever 
variations  there  might  be  in  the  external  forms  of  wor- 
ship, in  all  of  them  the  congregational  hymn  held  a 
prominent  place,  and  it  is  to  be  noticed  that  almost 
without  exception  the  chief  hymn  writers  of  the  Lu- 
theran time  were  theologians  and  preachers. 

Luther  certainly  wrote  thirty-six  hymns.  A  few 
others  have  been  ascribed  to  him  without  conclusive  evi- 
dence. By  far  the  greater  part  of  these  thirty-six  are 
not  entirely  original.  Many  of  them  are  translations  or 
adaptations  of  psalms,  some  of  which  are  nearly  literal 
transfers.  Other  selections  from  Scripture  were  used  in 
a  similar  way,  among  which  are  the  Ten  Commandments, 
the  Ter  Sanctus,  the  song  of  Simeon,  and  the  Lord's 
Prayer.  Similar  use,  viz.^  close  translation  or  free  para- 
phrase, was  made  of  certain  Latin  hymns  by  Ambrose, 
Gregory,  Hus,  and  others,  and  also  of  certain  religious 
folk-songs  of  the  pre-Re formation  period.  Five  hymns 
only  are  completely  original,  not  drawn  in  any  way  from 

250 


THE  RISE   OF  THE  LUTHERAN  HYMNODY 

older  compositions.  Besides  these  five  many  of  the  tran- 
scriptions of  psalms  and  older  hymns  owe  but  little  to 
their  models.  The  chief  of  these,  and  the  most  celebrated 
of  all  Luther's  hymns,  "  Ein'  feste  Burg,"  was  suggested 
by  the  forty-sixth  Psahn,  but  nothing  could  be  more  orig- 
inal in  spirit  and  phraseology,  more  completely  character- 
istic of  the  great  reformer.  The  beautiful  poems,  "  Aus 
tiefer  Noth  "  (Ps.  cxxx.),  and  "  Ach  Gott,  vom  Himmel 
sieh'  darein  "  (Ps.  xii.),  are  less  bold  paraphrases,  but 
still  Luther's  own  in  the  sense  that  their  expression  is  a 
natural  outgrowth  of  the  more  tender  and  humble  side  of 
his  nature. 

No  other  poems  of  their  class  by  any  single  man  have  * 
ever  exerted  so  great  an  influence,  or  have  received  so 
great  admiration,  as  these  few  short  lyrics  of  Martin 
Luther.  And  yet  at  the  first  reading  it  is  not  easy  to 
understand  the  reason  for  their  celebrity.  As  poetry  they 
disappoint  us;  there  is  no  artfully  modulated  diction,  no 
subtle  and  far-reaching  imagination.  Neither  do  they 
seem  to  chime  with  our  devotional  needs  ;  there  is  a  jar- 
ring note  of  fanaticism  in  them.  We  even  find  expres- 
sions that  give  positive  offence,  as  when  he  speaks  of  the 
"Lamb  roasted  in  hot  love  upon  the  cross."  We  say 
that  they  are  not  universal,  that  they  seem  the  outcome 
of  a  temper  that  belongs  to  an  exceptional  condition. 
This  is  really  the  fact ;  here  is  the  clue  to  their  proper 
study.  They  do  belong  to  a  time,  and  not  to  all  time. 
We  must  consider  that  they  are  the  utterance  of  a  mind 
engaged  in  conflict,  and  often  toniiented  with  doubt  of 
the  outcome.  They  reveal  the  motive  of  the  great  pivotal 
figure  in  modern  religious  history.     More  tlian  that  — 

251 


MUSIC  IN  THE   WESTEUN  CHURCH 

they  hivye  behind  tliem  the  great  impelling  force  of  the 
Reformation.  Perhaps  the  world  has  shown  a  correct 
instinct  in  fixing  upon  "  Ein'  feste  Burg  "  as  the  typical 
hymn  of  Luther  and  of  the  Reformation.  Heine,  who 
called  it  "  the  Marseillaise  of  the  Reformation ; "  Freder- 
ick the  Great,  who  called  its  melody  (not  without  rever- 
ence) "  God  Almighty's  grenadier  march ;  "  Mendelssohn 
and  Meyerbeer,  who  chose  the  same  tune  to  symbolize 
aggressive  Protestantism ;  and  Wagner,  who  wove  its 
strains  into  the  grand  march  which  celebrates  the  military 
triumphs  of  united  Germany,  —  all  these  men  had  an 
accurate  feeling  for  the  patriotic  and  moral  fire  which 
bums  in  this  mighty  song.  The  same  spirit  is  found  in 
other  of  Luther's  hymns,  but  often  combined  \vith  a  ten- 
derer music,  in  which  emphasis  is  laid  more  upon  the 
inward  peace  that  comes  from  trust  in  God,  than  upon 
the  fact  of  outward  conflict.  A  still  more  exalted  mood 
is  disclosed  in  such  hymns  as  "  Nun  freut  euch,  lieben 
Christen  g'mein,"  and  "  Von  Himmel  lioch  da  komm  ich 
her "  —  the  latter  a  Christmas  song  said  to  have  been 
written  for  his  little  son  Hans.  The  first  of  these  is  no- 
table for  the  directness  with  which  it  sets  forth  the 
Lutheran  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith  alone.  It  is 
in  this  same  directness  and  homely  vigor  and  adaptation 
to  the  pressing  needs  of  the  time  that  we  must  find  the 
cause  of  the  popular  success  of  Luther's  hjTuns.  He 
knew  what  the  dumb,  blindly  yearning  German  people 
had  been  groping  for  during  so  many  years,  and  the 
power  of  his  sermons  and  poems  lay  in  the  fact  that  they 
offered  a  welcome  spiritual  gift  in  phrases  that  went 
straight  to  the  [X)pular  heart.     His  speech  was  that  of  the 

252 


THE  RISE  OF  THE  LUTHERAN  HYMNODY 

people  —  idiomatic,  nervous,  and  penetrating.  He  had 
learned  how  to  talk  to  them  in  his  early  peasant  home, 
and  in  his  study  of  the  folk-songs.  Coarse,  almost  brutal 
at  times,  we  may  call  him,  as  in  his  controversies  with 
Henry  VIH.,  Erasmus,  and  others;  but  it  was  the 
coarseness  of  a  rugged  nature,  of  a  son  of  the  soil,  a  man 
tremendously  in  earnest,  blending  religious  zeal  with 
patriotism,  never  doubting  that  the  enemies  of  his  faith 
were  confederates  of  the  devil,  who  was  as  real  to  him 
as  Duke  George  or  Dr.  Eck.  No  English  translation 
can  quite  do  justice  to  the  homely  vigor  of  his  verse. 
Carlyle  has  succeeded  as  well  as  possible  in  his  transla- 
tion of  "Ein'  feste  Burg,"  but  even  this  masterly  achieve- 
ment does  not  quite  reproduce  the  jolting  abruptness  of 
the  metre,  the  swing  and  fire  of  the  movement.  The 
greater  number  of  Luther's  hymns  are  set  to  a  less  stri- 
dent pitch,  but  all  alike  speak  a  language  which  reveals 
in  every  line  the  ominous  spiritual  tension  of  this  his- 
toric moment. 

In  philological  history  these  hymns  have  a  signifi- 
cance equal  to  that  of  Luther's  translation  of  the 
Bible,  in  which  scholars  agree  in  finding  the  virtual 
creation  of  the  modern  German  language.  And  the 
elements  that  should  give  new  life  to  the  national 
speech  were  to  be  found  among  the  commonalty.  "  No 
one  before  Luther,"  says  Bayard  Taylor,  "saw  that 
the  German  tongue  must  be  sought  for  in  the  mouths 
of  the  people  —  that  the  exhausted  expression  of  the 
earlier  ages  could  not  be  revived,  but  that  the  newer, 
fuller,  and  richer  speech,  then  in  its  childhood,  must 
at  ouce  be  acknowledged  and  adopted.     With  all  his 

258 


MUSIC  IN  THE   WESTEHN  CHURCH 

Bcholarship  Luther  dropped  the  theological  style,  and 
sought  among  the  people  for  phrases  as  artless  and 
simple  as  those  of  the  Hebrew  writers."  "  The  influ- 
ence of  Luther  on  German  literature  cannot  be  ex- 
plained until  we  have  seen  how  sound  and  vigorous 
and  many-sided  was  the  new  spirit  which  he  infused 
into  the  language."  ^  All  this  will  apply  to  the  hymns 
as  well  as  to  the  Bible  translation.  Here  was  one 
great  element  in  the  popular  effect  which  these  hymns 
produced.  Their  simple,  home-bred,  domestic  form  of 
expression  caught  the  public  ear  in  an  instant.  Those 
who  have  at  all  studied  the  history  of  popular  eloquence 
in  prose  and  verse  are  aware  of  the  electrical  effect 
that  may  be  produced  when  ideas  of  pith  and  moment 
are  sent  home  to  the  masses  in  forms  of  speech  that 
are  their  own.  Luther's  hymns  may  not  be  poetry  in 
the  high  sense;  but  they  are  certainly  eloquence,  they 
are  popular  oratory  in  verse,  put  into  the  mouths  of 
the  people  by  one  of  their  own  number. 

In  spite  of  the  fact  that  these  songs  were  the  natural 
outcome  of  a  period  of  spiritual  and  political  conflict, 
and  give  evidence  of  this  fact  in  almost  every  instance, 
yet  they  are  less  dogmatic  and  controversial  than  might 
be  expected,  for  Luther,  bitter  and  intolerant  as  he 
often  was,  understood  the  requirements  of  church  song 
well  enough  to  know  that  theological  and  political 
polemic  should  be  kept  out  of  it.  Nevertheless  these 
hymns  are  a  powerful  witness  to  the  great  truths  which 
were  the  corner-stone  of  the  doctrines  of  the  reformed 
church.     They  constantly  emphasize  the  principle  that 

*  Taj'lor,  Studies  in  German  Literature. 
254 


THE  RISE   OF   THE  LUTHERAN  HYMNODY 

salvation  comes  not  through  works  or  sacraments  or 
any  human  mediation,  but  only  through  the  merits  of 
Christ  and  faith  in  his  atoning  blood.  The  whole  ma- 
chinery of  mariolatry,  hagiolatry,  priestly  absolution, 
and  personal  merit,  which  had  so  long  stood  between 
the  individual  soul  and  Christ,  was  broken  down. 
Christ  is  no  longer  a  stern,  hardly  appeasable  Judge, 
but  a  loving  Saviour,  yearning  over  mankind,  stretch- 
ing out  hands  of  invitation,  asking,  not  a  slavish 
submission  to  formal  observances,  but  a  free,  spontan- 
eous offering  of  the  heart.  This  was  the  message  that 
thrilled  Germany.  And  it  was  through  the  hymns  of 
Luther  and  those  modelled  upon  them  that  the  new 
evangel  was  most  widely  and  quickly  disseminated. 
The  friends  as  well  as  the  enemies  of  the  Reformation 
asserted  that  the  spread  of  the  new  doctrines  was  due 
more  to  Luther's  hymns  than  to  his  sermons.  The 
editor  of  a  German  hymn-book  published  in  1565  says: 
"  I  do  not  doubt  that  through  that  one  song  of  Luther, 
'  Nun  freut  euch,  lieben  Christen  g'mein,'  many  hundred 
Christians  have  been  brought  to  the  faith  who  other- 
wise would  not  have  heard  of  Luther."  An  indignant 
Jesuit  declared  that  "  Luther's  songs  have  damned 
more  souls  than  all  his  books  and  speeches."  We 
read  marvellous  stories  of  the  effect  of  these  hymns ; 
of  Lutheran  missionaries  entering  Catholic  churches 
during  service  and  drawing  away  the  whole  congre- 
gation by  their  singing ;  of  wandering  evangelists 
standing  at  street  corners  and  in  the  market  places, 
singing  to  excited  crowds,  then  distributing  the  hymns 
upon  leaflets  so  that  the  populace  might  join  in  the 

255 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN   CHURCH 

paean,  and  so  winning  entire  cities  to  the  new  faith 
almost  in  a  day.  This  is  easily  to  be  believed  when 
we  consider  that  the  progress  of  events  and  the  drift 
of  ideas  for  a  century  and  more  had  been  preparing 
the  German  mind  for  Luther's  message ;  that  as  a 
people  the  Germans  are  extremely  susceptible  to  the 
enthusiasms  that  utter  themselves  in  song;  and  that 
these  hjonns  carried  the  truths  for  which  their  souls 
had  been  thirsting,  in  language  of  extraordinary  force, 
clothed  in  melodies  which  they  had  long  known  and 
loved. 

We  lay  especial  stress  upon  the  hymns  of  Luther, 
not  simply  on  account  of  their  inherent  power  and 
historic  importance,  but  also  because  they  are  repre- 
sentative Oi  a  school.  Luther  was  one  of  a  group  of 
lyrists  which  included  bards  hardly  less  trenchant 
than  he.  Koch  gives  the  names  of  fifty-one  writers 
who  endowed  the  new  German  hymnody  between 
1517  and  1560.^  He  finds  in  them  all  one  common 
feature,  —  the  ground  character  of  objectivity.  "  They 
are  genuine  church  hymns,  in  which  tlie  common  faith 
is  expressed  in  its  universality,  without  the  subjective 
feeling  of  personality."  "  It  is  always  we,  not  I,  which 
is  the  prevailing  word  in  these  songs.  The  poets  of 
this  period  did  not,  like  those  of  later  times,  paint 
their  own  individual  emotions  with  all  kinds  of  figura- 
tive  expressions,  but,  powerfully  moved  by  the  truth, 
they  sang  the  work  of  redemption  and  extolled  the 
faith  in  the   free,  undeserved   grace  of   God  in    Jesus 

1  Koch,  Geschichte  des  Kirchenliedes  und  Kirchegesanges  der  christlichen 
insbesondere  der  deutschen  evangelischen  Kirche. 

256 


THE  RISE   OF  THE  LUTHERAN  HYMNODY 

Christ,  or  gave  thanks  for  the  newly  given  pure  word 
of  God  in  strains  of  joyful  victory,  and  defied  their 
foes  in  firm,  godly  trust  in  the  divinity  of  the  doctrine 
which  was  so  new  and  yet  so  old.  Therefore  they 
speak  the  truths  of  salvation,  not  in  dry  doctrinal  tone 
and  sober  reflection,  but  in  the  form  of  testimony  or 
confession,  and  although  in  some  of  these  songs  are 
contained  plain  statements  of  belief,  the  reason  therefor 
is  simply  in  the  hunger  and  thirst  after  the  pure  doc- 
trine. Hence  the  speech  of  these  poets  is  the  Bible 
speech,  and  the  expression  forcible  and  simple.  It  is 
not  art,  but  faith,  which  gives  these  songs  their  imper- 
ishable value." 

The  hymns  of  Luther  and  the  other  early  Reforma- 
tion hymnists  of  Germany  are  not  to  be  classed  with 
sacred  lyrics  like  those  of  Vaughan  and  Keble  and  New- 
man which,  however  beautiful,  are  not  of  that  univer- 
sality which  alone  adapts  a  hymn  for  use  in  the  public 
assembly.  In  writing  their  songs  Luther  and  his  com- 
peers identified  themselves  with  the  congregation  of 
believers ;  they  produced  them  solely  for  common  praise 
in  the  sanctuary,  and  they  are  therefore  in  the  strict 
sense  impersonal,  surcharged  not  with  special  isolated 
experiences,  but  with  the  vital  spirit  of  the  Reformation. 
No  other  body  of  hymns  was  ever  produced  under 
similar  conditions  ;  for  the  Reformation  was  born  and 
cradled  in  conflict,  and  in  these  songs,  amid  their  prot- 
estations of  confidence  and  joy,  there  may  often  be 
heard  cries  of  alarm  1x3 fore  powerful  adversaries,  appeals 
for  help  in  material  as  well  as  spiritual  exigencies,  and 
sometimes  also  tones  of  wrath  and  defiance.  Strains 
17  257 


MUSIC  IN   THE    WESTERN   CHURCH 

such  as  the  latter  are  most  frequent  perhaps  in  the 
paraphrases  of  the  psalms,  which  the  authors  apply  to 
the  situation  of  an  infant  church  encompassed  with 
enemies.  Yet  there  is  no  sign  of  doubt  of  the  justice  of 
the  cause,  or  of  the  safety  of  the  flock  in  the  divine 
hands. 

Along  with  the  production  of  hymns  must  go  the 
composition  or  arrangement  of  tunes,  and  this  was  a  less 
direct  and  simple  process.  The  conditions  and  methods 
of  musical  art  forbade  the  ready  invention  of  melodies. 
We  have  seen  in  our  previous  examination  of  the  music 
of  the  mediaeval  Church  that  the  invention  of  themes  for 
musical  works  was  no  part  of  the  composer's  business. 
Down  to  about  the  year  1600  the  scientific  musician 
always  borrowed  his  themes  from  older  sources  —  the 
liturgic  chant  or  popular  songs  —  and  worked  them  up 
into  choral  movements  according  to  the  laws  of  counter- 
point. He  was,  therefore,  a  tune-setter,  not  a  tune- 
maker.  The  same  custom  prevailed  among  the  German 
musicians  of  Luther's  day,  and  it  would  have  been  too 
much  to  expect  that  they  should  go  outside  their  strict 
habits,  and  violate  all  the  traditions  of  their  craft,  so  far 
as  to  evolve  from  their  own  heads  a  great  number  of 
singable  melodies  for  the  people's  use.  The  task  of 
Luther  and  his  musical  assistants,  therefore,  was  to  take 
melodies  from  music  of  all  sorts  with  which  they  were 
familiar,  alter  them  to  fit  the  metre  of  the  new  hymns, 
and  iidd  the  harmonies.  In  course  of  time  the  enormous 
multiplication  of  hymns,  each  demanding  a  musical 
setting,  and  the  requirements  of  simplicity  in  popular 
song,  brought  about  a  union  of  the  functions  of  the  tune- 

258 


THE  RISE   OF  THE  LUTHERAN  HYMNODY 

maker  and  the  tune-setter,  and  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
sixteenth  century  the  modern  method  of  inventing 
melodies  took  the  place  of  the  mediaeval  custom  of 
borrowing  and  adapting,  both  in  the  people's  song  and 
in  larger  works. 

Down  to  a  very  recent  period  it  has  been  universally 
believed  that  Luther  was  a  musician  of  the  latter  order 
t.  e.y  a  tune-maker,  and  that  the  melodies  of  many  of  his 
hymns  were  of  his  own  production.  Among  writers  on 
this  period  no  statement  is  more  frequently  made  than 
that  Luther  wrote  tunes  as  well  as  hymns.  This  belief 
is  as  tenacious  as  the  myth  of  the  rescue  of  church 
music  by  Palestrina,  Dr.  L.  W.  Bacon,  in  the  preface 
to  his  edition  of  the  hymns  of  Luther  with  their  original 
melodies,  assumes,  as  an  undisputed  fact,  that  many  of 
these  tunes  are  Luther's  own  invention.^  Even  Juhan's 
Dictionary  of  Hymnology^  which  is  supposed  to  be  the 
embodiment  of  the  most  advanced  scholarship  in  this 
department  of  learning,  makes  similar  statements.  But 
this  is  altogether  an  error.  Luther  composed  no  tunes. 
Under  the  patient  investigation  of  a  half-century,  the 
melodies  originally  associated  with  Luther's  hymns  have 
all  been  traced  to  their  sources.  The  tune  of  "  Ein'  feste 
Burg  "  was  the  last  to  yield ;  Baumker  finds  the  germ  of 
it  in  a  Gregorian  melody.  Such  proof  as  this  is,  of  course, 
decisive  and  final.  The  hymn-tunes,  called  chorals, 
which  Luther,  Walther,  and  others  provided  for  the 
reformed  churches,  were  drawn  from  three  sources,  viz.^ 
the  Latin  song  of  the   Catholic  Church,  the  tunes   of 

^  Bacon  and  Allen,  editors  :   The  Ili/mns  of  Martin  Luther  set  to  theif 
Original  Melodies,  with  an  English  fersion. 

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MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN   CHURCH 

German  hymns  before  the  Reformation,  and  the  secular 
folk-song. 

1.  If  Luther  was  willing  to  take  many  of  the  prayers 
of  the  Catholic  liturgy  for  use  in  his  German  Mass,  still 
more  ready  was  he  to  adopt  the  melodies  of  the  ancient 
Church.  In  his  preface  to  the  Funeral  Hymns  (lt542), 
after  speaking  of  the  forms  of  the  Catholic  Church 
which  in  themselves  he  did  not  disapprove,  he  says : 
"  In  the  same  way  have  they  much  noble  music,  especially 
in  the  abbeys  and  parish  churches,  used  to  adorn  most 
vile,  idolatrous  words.  Therefore  have  we  undressed 
these  lifeless,  idolatrous,  crazy  words,  stripping  off  the 
noble  music,  and  putting  it  upon  the  living  and  holy 
word  of  God,  wherewith  to  sing,  praise,  and  honor  the 
same,  that  so  the  beautiful  ornament  of  music,  brought 
back  to  its  right  use,  may  serve  its  blessed  Maker,  and 
his  Christian  people."  A  few  of  Luther's  hymns  were 
translations  of  old  Latin  hymns  and  Sequences,  and  these 
were  set  to  the  original  melodies.  Luther's  labor  in  this 
field  was  not  confined  to  the  choral,  but,  like  the  founders 
of  the  musical  service  of  the  Anglican  Church,  he  estab- 
lished a  system  of  chanting,  taking  the  Roman  use  as  a 
model,  and  transferring  many  of  the  Gregorian  tunes. 
Johann  Walther,  Luther's  co-laborer,  relates  the  extreme 
pains  which  Luther  took  in  setting  notes  to  the  Epistle, 
Gospel,  and  other  offices  of  the  service.  He  intended  to 
institute  a  threefold  di^dsion  of  church  song,  —  the  choir 
anthem,  the  unison  chant,  and  the  congregational  hymn. 
Only  the  first  and  third  forms  have  been  retained.  Tiie 
use  of  chants  derived  from  the  Catholic  service  was 
continued  in  some  churches  as  late  as  the  end  of  the 

260 


THE  RISE   OF  THE  LUTHERAN  HYMNODY 

seventeenth  century.  But,  as  Helmore  says,  "  the  rage 
for  turning  creeds,  commandments,  psalms,  and  every- 
thing to  be  sung,  into  metre,  gradually  banished  the 
chant  from  Protestant  communities  on  the  Continent." 

2.  In  cases  in  which  pre-Reformation  vernacular 
hymns  were  adopted  into  the  song-books  of  the  new 
Church  the  original  melodies  were  often  retained,  and 
thus  some  very  ancient  German  tunes,  although  in 
modern  guise,  are  still  preserved  in  the  hymn-books  of 
modern  Germany.  Melodies  of  the  Bohemian  Brethren 
were  in  this  manner  transferred  to  the  German  song- 
books. 

3.  The  secular  folk-song  of  the  sixteenth  century 
and  earlier  was  a  very  prolific  source  of  the  German 
choral.  This  was  after  Luther's  day,  however,  for  it 
does  not  appear  that  any  of  his  tunes  were  of  this 
class.  Centuries  before  the  age  of  artistic  German 
music  began,  the  common  people  possessed  a  large  store 
of  simple  songs  which  they  delighted  to  use  on  festal 
occasions,  at  the  fireside,  at  their  labor,  in  love-making, 
at  weddings,  christenings,  and  in  every  circumstance  of 
social  and  domestic  life.  Here  was  a  rich  mine  of 
simple  and  expressive  melodies  from  which  choral  tunes 
might  be  fasliioned.  In  some  cases  this  transfer  in- 
volved considerable  modification,  in  others  but  little, 
for  at  that  time  there  was  far  less  difference  between 
the  religious  and  the  secular  musical  styles  than  there 
is  now.  The  associations  of  these  tunes  were  not 
always  of  the  most  edifying  kind,  and  some  of  them 
were  so  identified  with  unsanctified  ideas  that  the 
strictest  theologians  protested  against  them,  and  some 

261 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

were  weeded  out.  In  course  of  time  the  old  secular 
associations  were  forgotten,  and  few  devout  Germans 
are  now  reminded  that  some  of  the  grand  melodies  in 
which  faith  and  hope  find  such  appropriate  utterance 
are  variations  of  old  love  songs  and  drinking  songs. 
There  is  nothing  exceptional  in  this  borrowing  of  the 
Avorld's  tunes  for  ecclesiastical  uses.  We  find  the  same 
practice  among  the  French,  Dutch,  English,  and  Scotch 
Calvinists,  the  English  Wesleyans,  and  the  hymn-book 
makers  of  America.  This  method  is  often  necessary 
when  a  young  and  vigorously  expanding  Church  must 
be  quickly  provided  with  a  store  of  songs,  but  in  its 
nature  it  is  only  a  temporary  recourse. 

The  choral  tunes  sung  by  the  congregation  were  at  first 
not  harmonized.  Then,  as  they  began  to  be  set  in  the 
strict  contrapuntal  style  of  the  day,  it  became  the  custom 
for  the  people  to  sing  the  melody  while  the  choir  sus- 
tained the  other  parts.  The  melody  was  at  first  in  the 
tenor,  according  to  time-honored  usage  in  artistic  music, 
but  as  composers  found  that  they  must  consider  the 
vocal  limitations  of  a  mass  of  untrained  singers  a  simpler 
form  of  harmony  was  introduced,  and  the  custom  arose 
of  putting  the  melody  in  the  upper  voice,  and  the  har- 
mony below.  This  method  prepared  the  development 
of  a  harmony  that  was  more  in  the  nature  of  modern 
chord  progressions,  and  when  the  choir  and  congrega- 
tion severed  their  incompatible  union,  the  complex 
counterpoint  in  which  the  age  delighted  was  allowed 
free  range  in  the  motet,  while  the  harmonized  choral 
became  more  simple  and  compact.  The  partnership 
of  choir  and  congregation  was  dissolved  about  1600, 

262 


THE  RISE   OF  THE  LUTHERAN  HYMNODY 

and  the  organ  took  the  place  of  the  trained  singers  in 
accompanying  the  unison  song  of  the  people. 

One  who  studies  the  German  chorals  as  they  appear 
in  the  hymn-books  of  the  present  day  (many  of  which 
hold  honored  places  in  English  and  American  hymnals) 
must  not  suppose  that  he  is  acquainted  with  the  reli- 
gious tunes  of  the  Reformation  in  their  pristine  form. 
As  they  are  now  sung  in  the  German  churches  they 
have  been  greatly  modified  in  harmony  and  rhythm,  and 
even  in  many  instances  in  melody  also.  The  only  scale 
and  harmonic  system  then  in  vogue  was  the  Gregorian. 
In  respect  to  rhythm  also,  the  alterations  have  been 
equally  striking.  The  present  choral  is  usually  written 
in  notes  of  equal  length,  one  note  to  a  syllable.  The 
metre  is  in  most  cases  double,  rarely  triple.  This 
manner  of  writing  gives  the  choral  a  singularly  grave, 
solid  and  stately  character,  encouraging  likewise  a  per- 
formance that  is  often  dull  and  monotonous.  There 
was  far  more  variety  and  life  in  the  primitive  choral, 
the  movement  was  more  flexible,  and  the  frequent 
groups  of  notes  to  a  single  syllable  imparted  a  buoyancy 
and  warmth  that  are  unknown  to  the  rigid  modern 
form.  The  transformation  of  the  choral  into  its 
present  shape  was  completed  in  the  eighteenth  century, 
a  result,  some  say,  of  the  relaxation  of  spiritual  energy 
in  the  period  of  rationalism.  A  party  has  been  formed 
among  German  churchmen  and  musicians  which  labors 
for  the  restoration  of  the  primitive  rhythmic  choral. 
Certiiin  congregations  have  adopted  the  reform,  but 
there  is  as  yet  no  sign  that  it  will  ultimately  prevail. 

In   spite   of   the   mischievous   influence   ascribed   to 

263 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

Luther's  hymns  by  his  opponents,  they  could  appre- 
ciate their  value  as  aids  to  devotion,  and  in  return  for 
Luther's  compliment  to  their  hymns  they  occasionally 
borrowed  some  of  his.  Strange  as  it  may  seem,  even 
"  Ein'  feste  Burg  "  was  one  of  these.  Neither  were  the 
Catholics  slow  to  imitate  the  Protestants  in  providing 
songs  for  the  people,  and  as  in  the  old  strifes  of  Arians 
and  orthodox  in  the  East,  so  Catholics  and  Lutherans 
strove  to  sing  each  other  down.  The  Catholics  also 
translated  Latin  hymns  into  German,  and  transformed 
secular  folk-songs  into  edifying  religious  rhymes.  The 
first  German  Catholic  song-book  was  published  in  1537 
by  Michael  Vehe,  a  preaching  monk  of  Halle.  This 
book  contained  fifty-two  hymns,  four  of  which  were 
alterations  of  hymns  by  Luther.  It  is  a  rather  notable 
fact  that  throughout  the  sixteenth  century  eminent 
musicians  of  both  confessions  contributed  to  the  musi- 
cal services  of  their  opponents.  Protestants  composed 
masses  and  motets  for  the  Catholic  churches,  and 
Catholics  arranged  choral  melodies  for  the  Protestants. 
This  friendly  interchange  of  good  offices  was  heartily 
encouraged  by  Luther.  Next  to  Johann  Walther,  his 
most  cherished  musical  friend  and  helper  was  Ludwig 
Senfl,  a  devout  Catholic.  This  era  of  relative  peace 
and  good-will,  of  which  this  musical  sympathy  was  a 
beautiful  token,  did  not  long  endure.  The  Catholic 
Counter-Reformation  cut  sharply  whatever  there  might 
have  been  of  mutual  understanding  and  tolerance,  and 
the  frightful  Thirty  Years'  War  overwhelmed  art  and 
the  spirit  of  humanity  together. 

The  multiplication  of   hymns  and  chorals  went  on 

264 


THE  RISE   OF  THE  LUTHERAN  HYMNODY 

throughout  the  sixteenth  century  and  into  the  seven- 
teenth with  unabated  vigor.  A  large  number  of  writers 
of  widely  differing  degrees  of  poetic  ability  contributed 
to  the  hymn-books,  which  multiplied  to  prodigious 
numbers  in  the  generations  next  succeeding  that  of 
Luther.  These  songs  harmonized  in  general  with  the 
tone  struck  by  Luther  and  his  friends,  setting  forth  the 
doctrine  of  justification  by  faith  alone,  and  the  joy  that 
springs  from  the  consciousness  of  a  freer  approach  to 
God,  mingled,  however,  with  more  sombre  accents 
called  forth  by  the  apprehension  of  the  dark  clouds  in 
the  political  firmament  which  seemed  to  bode  disaster 
to  the  Protestant  cause.  The  tempest  broke  in  1618. 
Again  and  again  during  the  thirty  years'  struggle 
the  reformed  cause  seemed  on  the  verge  of  annihilation. 
When  the  exhaustion  of  both  parties  brought  the  savage 
conflict  to  an  end,  the  enthusiasm  of  the  Reformation 
was  gone.  Religious  poetry  and  music  indeed  survived, 
and  here  and  there  burned  with  a  pure  flame  amid  the 
darkness  of  an  almost  primitive  barbarism.  In  times 
of  deepest  distress  these  two  arts  often  afford  the  only 
outlet  for  grief,  and  the  only  testimony  of  hope  amid 
national  calamities.  There  were  unconquerable  spirits 
in  Germany,  notably  among  the  hymnists,  cantors,  and 
organists,  who  maintained  the  sacred  fire  of  religious 
art  amid  the  moral  devastations  of  the  Thirty  Years' 
War,  whose  miseries  they  felt  only  as  a  deepening  of 
their  faith  in  a  power  that  overrules  the  wrath  of  man. 
Their  trust  fastened  itself  unfalteringly  upon  those 
assurances  of  divine  sympathy  which  had  been  the 
inspiration  of  their  cause  from  the  beginning.     This 

265 


MUSIC  IN   THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

pious  confidence,  this  unabated  poetic  glow,  found  in 
Paul  Gerhardt  (1607-1676)  the  most  fervent  and  refined 
expression  that  has  been  reached  in  German  hymnody. 

The  production  of  melodies  kept  pace  with  the  hymns 
throughout  the  sixteenth  century,  and  in  the  first  half 
of  the  seventeenth  a  large  number  of  the  most  beautiful 
songs  of  the  German  Church  were  contributed  by  such 
men    as    Andreas    Hammerschmidt,    Johann    Criiger, 
J.  R.  Able,  Johann  Schop,  Melchior  Frank,  Michael 
Altenburg,  and  scores  of  others  not  less  notable.     After 
the  middle  of   the  seventeenth  century,  however,  the 
fountain   began   to   show   signs   of    exhaustion.       The 
powerful   movement  in  the  direction  of  secular  music 
which  emanated  from  Italy  began  to  turn  the  minds  of 
composers  toward  experiments  which  promised  greater 
artistic  satisfaction  than  could  be  found  in  the  plain 
congregational   choral.     The   rationalism  of  the  eigh- 
teenth  century,    accompanying   a  period   of    doctrinal 
strife  and  lifeless  formalism  in  the  Church,  repressed 
those  unquestioning   enthusiasms  which   are  the   only 
source   of   a   genuinely   expressive   popular  hymnody. 
Pietism,  while  a  more  or  less  effective  protest  against 
cold  ceremonialism  and  theological  intolerance,  and  a 
potent  influence  in  substituting  a  warmer  heart  service 
in  place  of  dogmatic  pedantry,  failed  to  contribute  any 
new  stimulus  to  the  church  song ;  for  the  Pietists  either 
endeavored  to  discourage    church  music  altogether,  or 
else  imparted  to  hymn  and  melodj^  a  quality  of  effemi- 
nacy and   sentimentality.     False   tastes  crept  into  the 
Church.     The  homely  vigor  and  forthrightness  of  the 
Lutheran  hymn  seemed  to  the  shallow  critical  spirits  of 

266 


THE  RISE  OF  THE  LUTHERAN  HYMNODY 

the  day  rough,  prosaic,  and  repellant,  and  they  began  to 
smooth  out  and  polish  the  old  rhymes,  and  supplant  the 
choral  melodies  and  harmonies  with  the  prettinesses 
and  languishing  graces  of  the  Italian  cantilena.  As 
the  sturdy  inventive  power  of  conservative  church 
musicians  was  no  longer  available  or  desired,  recourse 
was  had,  as  in  old  times,  to  secular  material,  but  not  as 
formerly  to  the  song  of  the  people,  —  honest,  sincere, 
redolent  of  the  soil,  —  but  rather  to  the  light,  artificial 
strains  of  the  fashionable  world,  the  modish  Italian 
opera,  and  the  affected  pastoral  poesy.  It  is  the  old 
story  of  the  people's  song  declining  as  the  art-song 
flourishes.  As  the  stern  temper  of  the  Lutheran  era 
grew  soft  in  an  age  of  security  and  indifference,  so  the 
grand  old  choral  was  neglected,  and  its  performance 
grew  perfunctory  and  cold.  An  effort  has  been  made 
here  and  there  in  recent  years  to  restore  the  old  ideals 
and  practice,  but  until  a  revival  of  spirituality  strong 
enough  to  stir  the  popular  heart  breaks  out  in  Germany, 
we  may  not  look  for  any  worthy  successor  to  the  sono- 
rous proselyting  song  of  the  Reformation  age. 


267 


CHAPTER  VIII 

RISE  OF    THE   GERMAN   CANTATA  AND   PASSION 

The  history  of  German  Protestant  church  music  in 
the  seventeenth  century  and  onward  is  the  record  of  a 
transformation  not  less  striking  and  significant  than  that 
which  the  music  of  the  Catholic  Church  experienced  in 
the  same  period.  In  both  instances  forms  of  musical  art 
which  were  sanctioned  by  tradition  and  associated  with 
ancient  and  rigorous  conceptions  of  devotional  expres- 
sion were  overcome  by  the  superior  powers  of  a  style 
which  was  in  its  origin  purely  secular.  The  revolution 
in  the  Protestant  church  music  was,  however,  less  sud- 
den and  far  less  complete.  It  is  somewhat  remarkable 
that  the  influences  that  prevailed  in  the  music  of  the 
Protestant  Church  —  the  Church  of  discontent  and 
change  —  were  on  the  whole  more  cautious  and  conser- 
vative than  those  that  were  active  in  the  music  of  the 
Catholic  Church.  The  latter  readily  gave  up  the  old 
music  for  the  sake  of  the  new,  and  so  swiftly  readjusted 
its  boundaries  that  the  ancient  landmarks  were  almost 
everywhere  obliterated.  The  Protestant  music  advanced 
by  careful  evolutionary  methods,  and  in  the  final  product 
nothing  that  was  valuable  in  the  successive  stages  through 
which  it  passed  was  lost.  In  both  cases  —  Lutheran 
and  Catholic  —  the  motive  was  the  same.     Church  music, 

268 


RISE   OF  THE   GERMAN   CANTATA    AND  PASSION 

like  secular,  demanded  a  more  comprehensive  and  a 
more  individual  style  of  expression.  The  Catholic 
musicians  of  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries 
were  very  clear  in  their  minds  as  to  what  they  wanted 
and  how  to  get  it.  The  brilliant  Italian  aria  was  right 
at  hand  in  all  its  glory,  and  its  languishing  strains 
seemed  admirably  suited  to  the  appeals  which  the 
aggressive  Church  was  about  to  make  to  the  heart  and 
the  senses.  The  powers  that  ruled  in  German  Protes- 
tant worship  conceived  their  aims,  consciously  or  un- 
consciously, in  a  somewhat  different  spirit.  The  new 
musical  movement  in  German  church  music  was  less 
self-contident,  it  was  uncertain  of  its  final  direction,  at 
times  restrained  by  reverence  for  the  ancient  forms  and 
ideals,  again  wantonly  breaking  with  tradition  and  throw- 
ing itself  into  the  arms  of  the  alluring  Italian  culture. 

The  German  school  entered  the  seventeenth  century 
with  three  strong  and  pregnant  forms  to  its  credit,  viz., 
the  choral,  the  motet  (essentially  a  counterpart  of  the 
Latin  sixteenth-century  motet),  and  organ  music.  Over 
against  these  stood  the  Italian  recitative  and  aria,  asso- 
ciated with  new  principles  of  tonality,  harmony,  and 
structure.  The  former  were  the  stern  embodiment  of 
the  abstract,  objective,  liturgic  conception  of  worship 
music ;  tlie  latter,  of  the  subjective,  impassioned,  and 
individualistic.  Should  these  ideals  he  kept  apart,  or 
should  they  be  in  some  way  united  ?  One  group  of 
German  musicians  would  make  the  Italian  dramatic 
forms  tlie  sole  basis  of  a  new  religious  art,  recognizing 
tlie  claims  of  the  pereonal,  the  varied,  and  the  brilhant, 
in  ecclesiastical  music   as  in   secular.     Another  group 

269 


MUSIC  IN   THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

clung  tenaciously  to  the  choral  and  motet,  resisting  every 
influence  that  might  soften  that  austere  rigor  which  to 
their  minds  was  demanded  by  historic    association  and 
liturgic  fitness.     A  third  group  was  the  party  of  compro- 
mise.    Basing  their  culture  upon  the  old  German  choir 
chorus,    organ   music,   and    people's    hymn-tune,    they 
grafted  upon  this  sturdy  stock  the  Italian  melody.     It 
was  in  the  hands  of  this  school  that  the  future  of  Ger- 
man church  music  lay.     They  saw  that  the  opportun- 
ities for  a  more  varied  and  characteristic  expression  could 
not  be  kept  out  of  the  Church,  for  they  were  based  on 
the  reasonable  cravings  of  human  nature.     Neither  could 
they  throw  away  those  grand  hereditary  types  of  devo- 
tional utterance  which  had  become  sanctified  to  German 
memory  in  the  period  of  the  Reformation's  storm  and 
stress.     They   adopted  what    was   soundest    and    most 
suitable  for  these  ends  in  the  art  of  both  countries,  and 
built  up  a  form  of  music  which  strove  to  preserve  the 
high  traditions  of    national  liturgic  song,  while  at  the 
same  time  it  was  competent  to  gratify  the  tastes  wliich 
had   been   stimulated  by   the  recent   rapid   advance   in 
musical   invention.     Out   of   this  movement  grew   the 
Passion  music  and  the  cantata  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
embellished   with   all   the   expressive   resources   of  the 
Italian   vocal   solo  and   the  orchestral   accompaniment, 
soUdified   by   a    contrapuntal   treatment  derived    from 
organ  music,  and  held  unswervingly  to  the  very  heart 
of  the  liturgy  by  means  of  those  choral  tunes  which  had 
become  identified  with  special  days  and  occasions  in  the 
church  year. 

The  nature  of  the  change  of  motive  in  modern  church 
_    270 


RISE   OF  THE   GERMAN  CANTATA   AND  PASSION 

music,  which  broke  the  exclusive  domination  of  the 
chorus  by  the  introduction  of  solo  singing,  has  been 
set  forth  in  the  chapter  on  the  later  mass.  The  most 
obvious  fact  in  the  history  of  this  modification  of  church 
music  in  Germany  is  that  the  neglect  in  many  quarters 
of  the  strong  old  music  of  choral  and  motet  in  favor  of 
a  showy  concert  style  seemed  to  coincide  with  that 
melancholy  lapse  into  formalism  and  dogmatic  intoler- 
ance which,  in  the  German  Church  of  the  seventeenth 
and  eighteenth  centuries,  succeeded  to  the  enthusiasms 
of  the  Reformation  era.  But  it  does  not  follow,  as  often 
assumed,  that  we  have  here  a  case  of  cause  and  effect. 
It  is  worth  frequent  reiteration  that  no  style  of  music 
is  in  itself  religious.  There  is  no  sacredness,  says 
Ruskin,  in  round  arches  or  in  pointed,  in  pinnacles  or 
buttresses ;  and  we  may  say  with  equal  pertinence 
that  there  is  nothing  sacred  per  se  in  sixteenth-century 
counterpoint,  Lutheran  choral,  or  Calvinist  psalm-tune. 
The  adoption  of  the  new  style  by  so  many  German 
congregations  was  certainly  not  due  to  a  spirit  of  levity, 
but  to  the  belief  that  the  novel  sensation  which  their 
aesthetic  instincts  craved  was  also  an  element  in  moral 
edification.  From  the  point  of  view  of  our  more  mature 
experience,  however,  there  was  doubtless  a  deprivation 
of  something  very  precious  when  the  German  people 
began  to  lose  their  love  for  the  solemn  patriotic  hymns 
of  their  faith,  and  when  choirs  neglected  those  celestial 
harmonies  with  which  men  like  Eccard  and  Ilasler  lent 
these  melodies  the  added  charm  of  artistic  decoration. 
There  would  seem  to  be  no  real  compensation  in  those 
buoyant  songs,  with   their  thin  accompaniment,  which 

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MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

Italy  offered  as  a  substitute  for  a  style  grown  cold  and 
obsolete.  But  out  of  this  decadence,  if  we  call  it 
such,  came  the  cantatas  and  Passions  of  J.  S.  Bach,  in 
which  a  reflective  age  like  ours,  trained  to  settle  points 
of  fitness  in  matters  of  art,  finds  the  most  heart-search- 
ing and  heart-revealing  strains  that  devotional  feeling 
has  ever  inspired.  These  glorious  works  could  never 
have  existed  if  the  Church  had  not  sanctioned  the  new 
methods  in  music  which  Germany  was  so  gladly  receiv- 
ing from  Italy.  Constructed  to  a  large  extent  out  of 
secular  material,  these  works  grew  to  full  stature  under 
liturgic  auspices,  and  at  last,  transcending  the  bound- 
aries of  ritual,  they  became  a  connecting  bond  between 
the  organized  life  of  tlie  Church  and  the  larger  religious 
intuitions  which  no  ecclesiastical  system  has  ever  been 
able  to  monopolize. 

Such  was  the  gift  to  the  world  of  German  Protestant- 
ism, stimulated  by  those  later  impulses  of  the  Renais- 
sance movement  which  went  forth  in  music  after  their 
mission  had  been  accomplished  in  plastic  art.  In  the 
Middle  Age,  we  are  told,  religion  and  art  lived  to- 
gether in  brotherly  union ;  Protestantism  threw  away 
art  and  kept  religion.  Renaissance  rationalism  threw 
away  religion  and  retained  art.  In  painting  and  sculp- 
ture this  is  very  nearly  the  truth  ;  in  music  it  is  very  far 
from  being  true.  It  is  the  glory  of  the  art  of  music 
that  she  has  almost  always  been  able  to  resist  the  drift 
toward  sensuousness  and  levity,  and  Avhere  she  has  ap- 
parently yielded,  her  recovery  lias  been  speedy  and  sure. 
So  susceptible  is  her  very  nature  to  the  finest  touches 
of  religious  feeling,  that  every  revival  of  the  pure  spirit 

272 


klSE  of  TtiFl   GERMAN  CANTATA   AND  PASSION 

of  devotion  has  always  found  her  prepared  to  adapt 
herself  to  new  spiritual  demands,  and  out  of  apparent 
decline  to  develop  forms  of  religious  expression  more 
beautiful  and  sublime  even  than  the  old. 

Conspicuous  among  the  forms  with  which  the  new 
movement  endowed  the  German  Church  was  the  can- 
tata. This  form  of  music  may  be  traced  back  to  Ittdy, 
where  the  monodic  style  first  employed  in  the  opera 
about  1600  was  soon  adopted  into  the  music  of  the 
salon.  The  cantata  was  at  first  a  musical  recitation 
by  a  single  person,  without  action,  accompanied  by  a 
few  plain  chords  struck  upon  a  single  instrument.  This 
simple  design  was  expanded  in  the  first  half  of  the 
seventeenth  century  into  a  work  in  several  movements 
and  in  many  parts  or  voices.  Religious  texts  were  soon 
employed  and  the  church  cantata  was  born.  The  can- 
tata was  eagerly  taken  up  by  the  musicians  of  the 
German  Protestant  Church  and  became  a  prominent 
feature  in  the  regular  order  of  worship.  In  the  seven- 
teenth century  the  German  Church  cantata  consisted 
usually  of  an  instrumental  introduction,  a  chorus  sing- 
ing a  Bible  text,  a  "  spiritual  aria "  (a  strophe  song, 
sometimes  for  one,  sometimes  for  a  number  of  voices), 
one  or  two  vocal  solos,  and  a  choral.  This  immature 
form  (known  as  "  spiritual  concerto,"  "  spiritual  dia- 
logue "  or  "  spiritual  act  of  devotion  "),  consisting  of  an 
alternation  of  Biblical  passages  and  church  or  devotional 
hymns,  flourished  greatly  in  the  seventeenth  and  early 
part  of  the  eighteenth  centuries.  In  its  complete  de- 
velopment in  the  eighteenth  century  it  also  incorporated 
the  recitative  and  the  Italian  aria  form,  and  carried  to 
18  273 


MUSIC  IN  THE   WESTERN  CHURCH 

their  full  power  the  chorus,  especially  the  chorus  based 
on  the  choral  melody,  and  the  organ  accompaniment. 
By  means  of  the  prominent  employment  of  themes  taken 
from  choral  tunes  appointed  for  particular  days  in  the 
church  calendar,  especially  those  days  consecrated  to 
the  contemplation  of  events  in  the  life  of  our  Lord,  the 
cantata  became  the  most  effective  medium  for  the  ex- 
pression of  those  emotions  called  forth  in  the  congre- 
gation by  their  imagined  participation  in  the  scenes 
which  the  ritual  commemorated.  The  stanzas  of  the 
hymns  which  appear  in  the  cantata  illustrate  the  Bibli- 
cal texts,  applying  and  commenting  upon  them  in  the 
light  of  Protestant  conceptions.  The  words  refer  to 
some  single  phase  of  religious  feeling  made  conspicuous 
in  the  order  for  the  day.  A  cantata  is,  therefore,  quite 
analogous  to  the  anthem  of  the  Church  of  England, 
although  on  a  larger  scale.  Unlike  an  oratorio,  it  is 
neither  epic  nor  dramatic,  but  renders  some  mood,  more 
or  less  general,  of  prayer  or  praise. 

We  have  seen  that  the  Lutheran  Church  borrowed 
many  features  from  the  musical  practice  of  the  Catholic 
Church,  such  as  portions  of  the  Mass,  the  habit  of  chant- 
ing, and  ancient  hymns  and  tunes.  Another  inheritance 
was  the  custom  of  singing  the  story  of  Christ's  Passion, 
with  musical  additions,  in  Holy  Week.  This  usage, 
which  may  be  traced  back  to  a  remote  period  in  the 
Middle  Age,  must  be  distinguished  from  the  method, 
prevalent  as  early  as  the  thirteenth  century,  of  actually 
representing  the  events  of  Christ's  last  days  in  visible 
action  upon  the  stage.  The  Passion  play,  which  still 
survives  in  Oberammergau  in  Bavaria,  and  in  other  more 

274 


RISE   OF  THE  GERMAN  CANTATA   AND  PASSION 

obscure  parts  of  Europe,  was  one  of  a  great  number  of 
ecclesiastical  dramas,  classed  as  Miracle  Plays,  Mysteries, 
and  Moralities,  which  were  performed  under  the  auspices 
of  the  Church  for  the  purpose  of  impressing  the  people 
in  the  most  vivid  way  with  the  reality  of  the  Old  and 
New  Testament  stories,  and  the  binding  force  of  doctrines 
and  moral  principles. 

The  observance  out  of  which  the  German  Passion 
music  of  the  eighteenth  century  grew  was  an  altogether 
different  affair.  It  consisted  of  the  mere  recitation, 
without  histrionic  accessories,  of  the  story  of  the  trial 
and  death  of  Christ,  as  narrated  by  one  of  the  four  evan- 
gelists, beginning  in  the  synoptic  Gospels  with  the  plot 
of  the  priests  and  scribes,  and  in  St.  John's  Gospel  with 
the  betrayal.  This  narration  formed  a  part  of  the  liturgic 
office  proper  to  Palm  Sunday,  Holy  Tuesday,  Wednesday  of 
Holy  Week,  and  Good  Friday.  According  to  the  prim- 
itive use,  which  originated  in  the  period  of  ihe  suprem- 
acy of  the  Gregorian  chant,  sevenii  officers  took  part  in 
the  delivery.  One  cleric  intoned  the  evangelist's  narra- 
tive, another  the  words  of  Christ,  and  a  third  those  of 
Pilate,  Peter,  and  other  single  personages.  The  ejacula- 
tions of  the  Jewish  priests,  disciples,  and  mob  were 
chanted  by  a  small  group  of  ministers.  The  text  was 
rendered  in  the  simpler  syllabic  form  of  the  Plain  Song. 
Only  in  one  passage  did  this  monotonous  recitation  give 
way  to  a  more  varied,  song-like  utterance,  viz.,  in  the  cry 
of  Christ  upon  the  cross,  "  Eli,  Eli,  lama  sabachthani," 
this  phrase  being  delivered  in  an  extended,  solemn,  but 
unrhythmical  melody,  to  which  was  imparted  all  the 
pathos   that  the  singer   could   command.     The  chorus 

275 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

parts  were  at  first  sung  in  unison,  then,  as  the  art  of 
part-writing  developed,  they  were  set  in  simple  four- 
part  counterpoint. 

Under  the  influence  of  the  perfected  contrapuntal  art 
of  the  sixteenth  century  there  appeared  a  form  now 
known  as  the  motet  Passion,  and  for  a  short  time  it 
flourished  vigorously.  In  this  style  everything  was  sung 
in  chorus  without  accompaniment  —  evangelist's  narra- 
tive, words  of  Christ,  Pilate,  and  all.  The  large  oppor- 
tunities for  musical  effect  permitted  by  this  manner  of 
treatment  gained  for  it  great  esteem  among  musicians, 
for  since  this  purely  musical  method  of  repeating  the 
story  of  Christ's  death  was  never  conceived  as  in  any 
sense  dramatic,  there  was  nothing  inconsistent  in  setting 
the  words  of  a  single  personage  in  several  parts.  The 
life  enjoyed  by  this  phase  of  Passion  music  was  brief, 
for  it  arose  only  a  short  time  before  the  musical  revo- 
lution, heralded  by  the  Florentine  monody  and  con- 
firmed by  the  opera,  drove  the  mediaeval  polyphony  into 
seclusion. 

With  the  quickly  won  supremacy  of  the  dramatic  and 
concert  solo,  together  with  the  radical  changes  of  taste 
and  practice  which  it  signified,  the  chanted  Passion  and 
the  motet  Passion  were  faced  by  a  rival  which  was  des- 
tined to  attain  such  dimensions  in  Germany  that  it  occu- 
pied the  whole  field  devoted  to  this  form  of  art.  In  the 
oratorio  Passion,  as  it  may  be  called,  the  Italian  reci- 
tative and  aria  and  the  sectional  rhythmic  chorus  took 
the  place  of  the  unison  chant  and  the  ancient  polyphony  ; 
hymns  and  poetic  monologues  supplemented  and  some- 
times supplanted  the  Bible  text;  and  the  impassioned 

276 


RISE   OF  THE   GERMAN  CANTATA    AND  PASSION 

vocal  style,  introducing  the  new  principle  of  definite 
expression  of  the  words,  was  reinforced  by  the  lately 
emancipated  art  of  instrumental  music.  For  a  time, 
these  three  forms  of  Passion  music  existed  side  by  side, 
the  latest  in  an  immature  state;  but  the  stars  in  the 
firmament  of  modern  music  were  fighting  in  their  courses 
for  the  mixed  oratorio  style,  and  in  the  early  part  of  the 
eighteenth  century  this  latter  form  attained  completion 
and  stood  forth  as  the  most  imposing  gift  bestowed  by 
Germany  upon  the  world  of  ecclesiastical  art. 

The  path  which  German  religious  music  was  destined 
to  follow  in  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries, 
under  the  guidance  of  the  new  ideas  of  expression,  was 
plainly  indicated  when  Heinrich  Schiitz,  the  greatest 
German  composer  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  the 
worthy  forerunner  of  Bach  and  Handel,  wrote  his  "  his- 
tories "  and  "  sacred  symphonies."  Born  in  1585,  he 
came  under  the  inspiring  instruction  of  G.  Gabrieli  in 
Venice  in  1609,  and  on  a  second  visit  to  Italy  in  1628 
he  became  still  more  imbued  with  the  dominant  ten- 
dencies of  the  age.  He  was  appointed  chapel-master  at 
the  court  of  the  P^lector  of  Saxony  at  Dresden  in  1615, 
and  held  this  position,  with  a  few  brief  interruptions, 
until  his  death  in  1672.  He  was  a  musician  of  the 
most  solid  attainments,  and  although  living  in  a  transi- 
tion period  in  the  history  of  music,  he  was  cautious  and 
respectful  in  his  attitude  toward  both  the  methods  which 
were  at  that  time  in  conflict,  accepting  the  new  discover- 
ies in  dniniatic  expression  as  supplementiiry,  not  antag- 
onistic, to  the  old  ideal  of  devotional  music.  In  his 
psalms  he  employed  contrasting  and  combining  choral 

277 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

masses,  reinforced  by  a  band  of  instruments.  In  the 
Symphoniae  sacrae  are  songs  for  one  or  more  solo  voices, 
with  instrumental  obligate,  in  which  the  declamatory 
recitative  style  is  employed  with  varied  and  appropriate 
effect.  In  his  dramatic  religious  works,  the  "  Resurrec- 
tion," the  "Seven  Words  of  the  Redeemer  upon  the 
Cross,"  the  "  Conversion  of  Saul,"  and  the  Passions  after 
the  four  evangelists,  Schiitz  uses  the  vocal  solo,  the 
instrumental  accompaniment,  and  the  dramatic  chorus 
in  a  tentative  manner,  attaining  at  times  striking  effects 
of  definite  expression  quite  in  accordance  with  modern 
ideas,  while  anon  he  falls  back  upon  the  strict  impersonal 
method  identified  with  the  ancient  Plain  Song  and  six- 
tee  nth-centurj'  motet.  Most  advanced  in  style  and  rich  in 
expression  is  the  "  Seven  Words."  A  feature  character- 
istic of  the  rising  school  of  German  Passion  music  is  the 
imagined  presence  of  Christian  believers,  giving  utter- 
ance in  chorus  to  the  emotions  aroused  by  the  contem- 
plation of  the  atoning  act.  In  the  "  Seven  Words  "  the 
utterances  of  Jesus  and  the  other  separate  personages 
are  given  in  arioso  recitative,  rising  at  times  to  pro- 
nounced melody.  The  tone  of  the  whole  work  is  fer- 
vent, elevated,  and  churchly.  The  evangelist  and  all 
the  persons  except  Christ  sing  to  an  organ  bass,  —  the 
words  of  the  Saviour  are  accompanied  by  the  ethereal 
tones  of  stringed  instruments,  perhaps  intended  as  an 
emblematic  equivalent  to  the  aureole  in  religious  paint- 
ings. In  Schiitz's  settings  of  the  Passion,  although  they 
belong  to  the  later  years  of  his  life,  he  returns  to  the 
primitive  form,  in  which  the  parts  of  the  evangelist  and 
the  single  characters  are  rendered  in  the  severe  "  collect 

278 


RISE  OF  THE   GERMAN  CANTATA  AND  PASSION 

tone  "  of  the  ancient  Plain  Song,  making  no  attempt  at 
exact  expression  of  changing  sentiments.  Even  in  these 
restrained  and  lofty  works,  however,  his  genius  as  a  com- 
poser and  his  progressive  sympathies  as  a  modem  artist 
ujvjasionally  break  forth  in  vivid  expression  given  to  the 
ejaculations  of  priests,  disciples,  and  Jewish  mob,  attain- 
ing a  quite  remarkable  warmth  and  reality  of  portrayal 
Nevertheless,  these  isolated  attempts  at  naturalism 
hardly  bring  the  Passions  of  Schiitz  into  the  category  of 
modem  works.  There  is  no  instrumental  accompani- 
ment, and,  most  decisive  of  all,  they  are  restrained 
within  the  limits  of  the  mediasval  conception  by 
the  ancient  Gregorian  tonality,  which  is  maintained 
throughout  almost  to  the  entire  exclusion  of  chromatic 
alteration. 

The  works  of  Schiitz,  therefore,  in  spite  of  their 
sweetness  and  dignity  and  an  occasional  glimpse  of 
picturesque  detail,  are  not  to  be  considered  as  steps 
in  the  direct  line  of  progress  which  led  from  the  early 
Italian  cantata  and  oratorio  to  the  final  achievements 
of  Bach  and  Handel.  These  two  giants  of  the  culmi- 
nating period  apparently  owed  nothing  to  Schiitz.  It  is 
not  probable  that  they  had  any  acquaintance  with  his 
works  at  all.  The  methods  and  the  ideals  of  these 
three  were  altogether  different.  Considering  how  com- 
mon and  apparently  necessary  in  art  is  the  reciprocal 
influence  of  great  men,  it  is  remarkable  that  in  the 
instance  of  the  greatest  German  musician  of  the  seven- 
teenth century  and  the  two  greatest  of  the  eighteenth, 
all  working  in  the  field  of  religious  dramatic  music,  not 
one  was  affected  in  the  slightest  degree  by  the  labors  of 

279 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

either  of  the  others.  Here  we  have  the  individualism 
of  modern  art  exhibited  in  the  most  positive  degree 
upon  its  very  threshold. 

In  the  Passions  of  Schiitz  we  find  only  the  characters 
of  the  Bible  story,  together  with  the  evangelist's  nar- 
rative taken  literally  from  the  Gospel,  —  that  is  to  say, 
the  original  frame-work  of  the  Passion  music  with  the 
chorus  element  elaborated.  In  the  latter  part  of  the 
seventeenth  century  the  dramatic  scheme  of  the  Passion 
was  enlarged  by  the  addition  of  the  Christian  congre- 
gation, singing  appropriate  chorals,  and  the  ideal  com- 
pany of  believers,  expressing  suitable  sentiments  in 
recitatives,  arias,  and  choruses.  The  insertion  of 
church  hymns  was  of  the  highest  importance  in  view 
of  the  relation  of  the  Passion  music  to  the  liturgy,  for 
the  more  stress  was  laid  upon  this  feature,  the  more  the 
Passion,  in  spite  of  its  semi-dramatic  character,  became 
fitted  as  a  constituent  into  the  order  of  service.  The 
choral  played  here  the  same  part  as  in  the  cantata, 
assimilating  to  the  prescribed  order  of  worship  what 
would  otherwise  be  an  extraneous  if  not  a  disturbing 
feature.  This  was  especially  the  case  when,  as  in  the 
beginning  of  the  adoption  of  the  choral  in  the  Passion, 
the  hymn  verses  were  sung  by  the  congregation  itself. 
In  Bach's  time  this  custom  had  fallen  into  abeyance, 
and  the  choral  stanzas  were  sung  by  the  choir;  but  this 
change  involved  no  alteration  in  the  form  or  the  con- 
ception of  the  Passion  performance  as  a  liturgic  act. 

The  growth  of  the  Passion  music  from  Schiitz  to  its 
final  beauty  and  pathos  under  Sebastian  Bach  was  by 
no  means  constant.     In  certain  quarters,  particularly 

280 


RISE   OF  THE   GERMAN  CANTATA  AND  PASSION 

at  Hamburg,  the  aria  in  the  shallow  Italian  form  took 
an  utterly  disproportionate  importance.  The  opera, 
which  was  flourishing  brilliantly  at  Hamburg  about 
1700,  exercised  a  perverting  influence  upon  the  Passion 
to  such  an  extent  that  the  ancient  liturgic  traditions 
were  completely  abandoned.  In  many  of  the  Hamburg 
Passions  the  Bible  text  was  thrown  away  and  poems 
substituted,  all  of  which  were  of  inferior  literary  merit, 
and  some  quite  contemptible.  Incredible  as  it  may 
seem,  the  comic  element  was  sometimes  introduced, 
the  "  humorous  "  characters  being  the  servant  Malthus 
whose  ear  was  cut  off  by  Peter,  and  a  clownish  peddler 
of  ointment.  It  must  be  said  that  these  productions 
were  not  given  in  the  churches;  they  are  not  to  be 
included  in  the  same  category  with  the  strictly  litur- 
gic Passions  of  Sebastian  Bach.  The  comparative 
neglect  of  the  choral  and  also  of  the  organ  removes 
them  altogether  from  the  proper  history  of  German 
church  music. 

Thus  we  see  how  the  new  musical  forms,  almost 
creating  the  emotions  which  they  were  so  well  adapted 
to  express,  penetrated  to  the  very  inner  shrine  of 
German  church  music.  In  some  sections,  as  at  Ham- 
burg, the  Italian  culture  supplanted  the  older  school 
altogether.  In  others  it  encountered  sterner  resistance, 
and  could  do  no  more  than  form  an  alliance,  in  which 
old  German  rigor  and  reserve  became  somewhat  amelio- 
rated and  relaxed  without  becoming  perverted.  To 
produce  an  art  work  of  the  highest  order  out  of  this 
union  of  contrasting  principles,  a  genius  was  needed 
who  should  possess  so  true  an  insight  into  the  special 

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MUSIC  IN   THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

capabilities  of  each  that  he  should  be  able  by  their 
amalgamation  to  create  a  form  of  religious  music  that 
should  be  conformed  to  the  purest  conception  of 
the  mission  of  church  song,  and  at  the  same  time 
endowed  with  those  faculties  for  moving  the  affections 
which  were  demanded  by  the  tastes  of  the  new  age.  In 
fulness  of  time  this  genius  appeared.  His  name  was 
Johann  Sebastian  Bach, 


282 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  CULMINATION   OP   GERMAN   PROTESTANT  MUSIC: 
JOHANN   SEBASTIAN   BACH 

The  name  of  Bach  is  the  greatest  in  Protestant 
church  music,  —  there  are  many  who  do  not  hesitate  to 
say  that  it  is  the  greatest  in  all  the  history  of  music, 
religious  and  secular.  The  activity  of  this  man  was 
many-sided,  and  his  invention  seems  truly  inexhaust- 
ible. He  touched  every  style  of  music  known  to  his 
day  except  the  opera,  and  most  of  the  forms  that  he 
handled  he  raised  to  the  highest  power  that  they  have 
ever  attained.  Many  of  his  most  admirable  qualities 
appear  in  his  secular  works,  but  these  we  must  pass 
over.  In  viewing  him  exclusively  as  a  composer  for 
the  Church,  however,  we  shall  see  by  far  the  most 
considerable  part  of  him,  for  his  secular  compositions, 
remarkable  as  they  are,  always  appear  rather  as  digres- 
sions from  the  main  business  of  his  life.  His  conscious 
life-long  purpose  was  to  enrich  the  musical  treasury  of 
the  Church  he  loved,  to  strengthen  and  signalize  every 
feature  of  her  worship  which  his  genius  could  reach : 
and  to  this  lofty  aim  he  devoted  an  intellectual  force 
and  an  energy  of  loyal  enthusiasm  unsurpassed  in  the 
annals  of  art. 

283 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

Johann  Sebastian  Bach  is  one  of  the  monumental 
figures  in  the  religious  history  of  Germany,  undoubtedly 
the  most  considerable  in  the  two  centuries  following 
the  death  of  Luther.  Like  Luther,  of  whom  in  some 
respects  he  reminds  us,  he  was  a  man  rooted  fast  in 
German  soil,  sprung  from  sturdy  peasant  stock,  en- 
dowed with  the  sterling  piety  and  steadfastness  of 
moral  purpose  which  had  long  been  traditional  in  the 
Teutonic  character.  His  culture  was  at  its  basis  purely 
German.  He  never  went  abroad  to  seek  the  elegancies 
which  his  nation  lacked.  He  did  not  despise  them, 
but  he  let  them  come  to  him  to  be  absorbed  into  the 
massive  substance  of  his  national  education,  in  order 
that  this  education  might  become  in  the  deepest  sense 
liberal  and  human.  He  interpreted  what  was  perma- 
nent and  hereditary  in  German  culture,  not  what  was 
ephemeral  and  exotic.  He  ignored  the  opera,  although 
it  was  the  reigning  form  in  every  country  in  Europe. 
He  planted  himself  squarely  on  German  church  music, 
particularly  the  essentially  German  art  of  organ  play- 
ing, and  on  that  foundation,  supplemented  with  what 
was  best  of  Italian  and  French  device,  he  built  up  a 
massive  edifice  which  bears  in  plan,  outline,  and  every 
decorative  detail  the  stamp  of  a  German  craftsman. 

The  most  musical  family  known  to  history  was  that 
of  the  Bachs.  In  six  generations  (Sebastian  belonging 
to  the  fifth)  we  find  marked  musical  ability,  which  in  a 
number  of  instances  before  Sebastian  appeared  amounted 
almost  to  genius.  As  many  as  thirty-seven  of  the  name 
are  known  to  have  held  important  musical  positions.  A 
large  number  during  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  cen- 

284 


JOHANN  SEBASTIAN  BACH 

turies  were  members  of  the  town  bands  and  choruses, 
which  sustained  almost  the  entire  musical  culture 
among  the  common  people  of  Germany  during  that 
period.  These  organizations,  combining  the  public 
practice  of  religious  and  secular  music,  were  effective 
in  nourishing  both  the  artistic  and  the  religious  spirit 
of  the  time.  In  Germany  in  the  seventeenth  century 
there  was  as  yet  no  opera  and  concert  system  to  con- 
centrate musical  activity  in  the  theatre  and  public  hall. 
The  Church  was  the  nursery  of  musical  culture,  and 
this  culture  was  in  no  sense  artificial  or  borrowed,  —  it 
was  based  on  types  long  known  and  beloved  by  the 
common  people  as  their  peculiar  national  inheritance, 
and  associated  with  much  that  was  stirring  and  honor- 
able in  their  history. 

Thuringia  was  one  of  the  most  musical  districts  in 
Germany  in  the  seventeenth  century,  and  was  also  a 
stronghold  of  the  reformed  religion.  From  this  and 
its  neighboring  districts  the  Bachs  never  wandered. 
Eminent  as  they  were  in  music,  hardly  one  of  them  ever 
visited  Italy  or  received  instruction  from  a  foreign 
master.  They  kept  aloof  from  the  courts,  the  hot-beds 
of  foreign  musical  growths,  and  submitted  themselves 
to  the  service  of  the  Protestant  Church.  They  were 
peasants  and  small  farmers,  well  to  do  and  everywhere 
respected.  Their  stern  self-mastery  held  them  uncon- 
taminated  by  the  wide-spread  demoralization  that  fol- 
lowed the  Thirty  Years'  War.  They  appear  as  admirable 
types  of  that  undemonstrative,  patient,  downright,  and 
tenacious  quality  which  has  always  saved  Germany  from 
social  decline  or  disintegration  in  critical  periods. 

285 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

Into  such  a  legacy  of  intelligence,  thrift,  and  pro- 
bity came  Johann  Sebastian  Bach.  All  the  most 
admirable  traits  of  his  ancestry  shine  out  again  in  him, 
reinforced  by  a  creative  gift  which  seems  the  accumula- 
tion of  all  the  several  talents  of  his  house.  He  was 
born  at  Eisenach,  March  21,  1685.  His  training  as  a 
boy  was  mainly  received  in  choir  schools  at  Ohrdruf 
and  Liineburg,  attaining  mastership  as  organist  and 
contrapuntist  at  the  age  of  eighteen.  He  held  official 
positions  at  Arnstadt,  Miihlhausen,  Weimar,  and  Anhalt- 
CcJthen,  and  was  finally  called  to  Leipsic  as  cantor  of 
the  Thomas  school  and  director  of  music  at  the  Thomas 
and  Nicolai  churches,  where  he  labored  from  1723  until 
his  death  in  1750.  His  life  story  presents  no  incidents 
of  romantic  interest.  But  little  is  known  of  his  tem- 
perament or  habits.  In  every  place  in  which  he  labored 
his  circumstances  were  much  the  same.  He  was  a 
church  organist  and  choir  director  from  the  beginning 
to  the  end  of  his  career.  He  became  the  greatest 
organist  of  his  time  and  the  most  accomplished  master 
of  musical  science.  His  declared  aim  in  life  was  to 
reform  and  perfect  German  church  music.  The  means 
to  achieve  this  were  always  afforded  him,  so  far  as  the 
scanty  musical  facilities  of  the  churches  of  that  period 
would  permit.  His  church  compositions  were  a  part  of 
his  official  routine  duties.  His  recognized  abilities 
always  procured  him  positions  remunerative  enough 
to  protect  him  from  anxiety.  He  was  never  subject  to 
interruptions  or  serious  discouragements.  From  first 
to  last  the  path  in  life  which  he  was  especially  qualified 
to   pursue  was   clearly  marked  out  before   him.     His 

286 


JOHANN  SEBASTIAN  BACH 

genius,  his  immense  physical  and  mental  energy,  and 
his  high  sense  of  duty  to  God  and  his  employers  did 
the  rest.  Nowhere  is  there  the  record  of  a  life  more 
simple,  straightforward,  symmetrical,  and  complete. 

In  spite  of  the  intellectual  and  spiritual  apathy  pre- 
vailing in  many  sections  of  Germany,  conditions  were 
not  altogether  unfavorable  for  the  special  task  which 
Bach  assigned  to  himself.  His  desire  to  build  up 
church  music  did  not  involve  an  effort  to  restore  to 
congregational  singing  its  pristine  zeal,  or  to  revive  an 
antiquarian  taste  for  the  historic  choir  anthem.  Bach 
was  a  man  of  the  new  time ;  he  threw  himself  into  the 
current  of  musical  progress,  seized  upon  the  forms 
which  were  still  in  process  of  development,  giving 
them  technical  completeness  and  bringing  to  light 
latent  possibilities  which  lesser  men  had  been  unable 
to  discern. 

The  material  for  his  purpose  was  already  within  his 
reach.  The  religious  folk-song,  freighted  with  a  pre- 
cious store  of  memories,  was  still  an  essential  factor  in 
public  and  private  worship.  The  art  of  organ  playing 
had  developed  a  vigorous  and  pregnant  national  style 
in  the  choral  prelude,  the  fugue,  and  a  host  of  freer 
forms.  The  Passion  music  and  the  cantata  had  recently 
shown  signs  of  brilliant  promise.  The  Italian  solo  song 
was  rejoicing  in  its  first  flush  of  conquest  on  German 
soil.  No  one,  however,  could  foresee  what  might  be 
done  with  these  materials  until  Bach  arose.  He 
gathered  them  all  in  his  hand,  remoulded,  blended,  en- 
larged them,  touched  them  with  the  fire  of  his  genius 
and  his  religious  passion,  and  thus  produced  works  of 

287 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN   CHURCH 

art  which,  intended  for  German  evangelicalism,  are 
now  being  adopted  by  the  world  as  the  most  compre- 
hensive symbols  in  music  of  the  essential  Christian 
faith.i 

Bach  was  one  of  those  supreme  artists  who  concen- 
trate in  themselves  the  spirit  and  the  experiments  of  an 
epoch.  In  order,  therefore,  to  know  how  the  persistent 
religious  consciousness  of  Germany  strove  to  attain 
self-recognition  through  those  art  agencies  which  finally 
became  fully  operative  in  the  eighteenth  century,  we 
need  only  study  the  works  of  this  great  representative 
musician,  passing  by  the  productions  of  the  organists 
and  cantors  who  shared,  although  in  feebler  measure, 
his  illumination.  For  Bach  was  no  isolated  phenome- 
non of  his  time.  He  created  no  new  styles;  he  gave 
art  no  new  direction.  He  was  one  out  of  many  poorly 
paid  and  overworked  church  musicians,  performing  the 
duties  that  were  tj-aditionally  attached  to  his  office, 
improvising  fugues  and  preludes,  and  accompanying 
choir  and  congregation  at  certain  moments  in  the  ser- 
vice, composing  motets,  cantatas,  and  occasionally  a 
larger  work  for  the  regular  order  of  the  day,  providing 
special  music  for  a  church  festival,  a  public  funeral, 
the  inauguration  of  a  town  council,  or  the  installation 
of  a  pastor.  What  distinguished  Bach  was  simply  the 
superiority  of  his  work  on  these  time-honored  lines,  the 
amazing  variety  of  sentiment  which  he  extracted  from 
these  conventional  forms,  the  scientific  learning  which 

1  The  performance  of  Bach's  cantatas  by  the  Catholic  Schola  Cantoruin 
of  Paris  is  one  of  many  testimonies  to  the  universality  of  the  art  of  this 
sou  of  Lutherauism. 

288 


JO H ANN  SEBASTIAN  BACH 

puts  him  among  the  greatest  technicians  in  the  whole 
range  of  art,  the  prodigality  of  ideas,  depth  of  feeling, 
and  a  sort  of  introspective  mystical  quality  which  he 
was  able  to  impart  to  the  involved  and  severe  diction  of 
his  age. 

Bach's  devotion  to  the  Lutheran  Church  was  almost 
as  absorbed  as  Palestrina's  to  the  Catholic.  His  was  a 
sort  of  cloistered  seclusion.  Like  every  one  who  has 
made  his  mark  upon  church  music  he  reverenced  the 
Church  as  a  historic  institution.  Her  government, 
ceremonial,  and  traditions  impressed  his  imagination, 
and  kindled  a  blind,  instinctive  loyalty.  He  felt  that  he 
attained  to  his  true  self  only  under  her  admonitions. 
Her  service  was  to  him  perfect  freedom.  His  oppor- 
tunity to  contribute  to  the  glory  of  the  Church  was  one 
that  dwarfed  every  other  privilege,  and  his  official  duty, 
his  personal  pleasure,  and  his  highest  ambition  ran  like  a 
single  current,  fed  by  many  streams,  in  one  and  the 
same  channel.  To  measure  the  full  strength  of  the 
mighty  tide  of  feeling  which  runs  through  Bach's  church 
music  we  must  recognize  this  element  of  conviction,  of 
moral  necessity.  Given  Bach's  inherited  character,  his 
education  and  liis  environment,  add  the  personal  factor 
—  imagination  and  reverence  —  and  you  have  Bach's 
music,  spontaneous  yet  inevitable,  like  a  product  of 
nature.  Only  out  of  sucli  single-minded  devotion  to  the 
interests  of  the  Church,  both  as  a  spiritual  nursery  and 
as  a  venerated  institution,  has  great  church  art  ever 
sprung  or  can  it  spring. 

Bach's  productions  for  the  Church  are  divided  into 
two  general  classes,  viz.,  organ  music  and  vocal  music- 
19  289 


MUSIC  IN  THE   WESTERN  CHURCH 

The  organ  music  is  better  known  to  the  world  at  large, 
and  on  account  of  its  greater  availability  may  outlive  the 
vocal  works  in  actual  practice.  For  many  reasons  more 
or  less  obvious  Bach's  organ  works  are  constantly  heard 
in  connection  with  public  worship,  both  Catholic  and 
Protestant,  in  Europe  and  America,  and  their  use  is 
steadily  increasing ;  while  the  choral  compositions  have 
almost  entirely  fallen  out  of  the  stated  religious  cere- 
mony, even  in  Germany,  and  have  been  relegated  to  the 
concert  hall.  In  course  of  time  the  organ  solo  had 
grown  into  a  constituent  feature  of  the  public  act  of 
worship  in  the  German  Protestant  Church.  In  the 
Catholic  Church  solo  organ  playing  is  less  intrinsic ;  in 
fact  it  has  no  real  historic  or  liturgic  authorization  and 
gives  the  impression  rather  of  an  embellishment,  like 
elaborately  carved  choir-screens  and  rose  windows,  very 
ornamental  and  impressive,  but  not  indispensable.  But 
in  the  German  system  organ  playing  had  become  estab- 
lished by  a  sort  of  logic,  first  as  an  accompaniment  to 
the  people's  hymn  —  a  function  it  assumed  about  1600 
—  and  afterwards  in  the  practice  of  extemporization 
upon  choral  themes.  Out  of  this  latter  custom  a  style  of 
organ  composition  grew  up  in  the  seventeenth  century 
which,  through  association  and  a  more  or  less  definite 
correspondence  with  the  spirit  and  order  of  the  pre- 
scribed service,  came  to  be  looked  upon  as  distinctively 
a  church  style.  This  German  organ  music  was  strictly 
church  music  according  to  the  only  adequate  definition  of 
church  music  that  has  ever  been  given,  for  it  had  grown 
up  within  the  Church  itself,  and  through  its  very-  Uturgic 
connections  had  come  to  make  its  appeal  to  the  wor- 

290 


JOHANN  SEBASTIAN  BACH 

shipers,  not  as  an  artistic  decoration,  but  as  an  agency 
directly  adapted  to  aid  in  promoting  those  ends  which 
the  church  ceremony  had  in  view.  Furthermore,  the 
dignity  and  severe  intellectuality  of  this  German  organ 
style,  combined  with  its  majesty  of  sound  and  strength 
of  movement,  seemed  to  add  distinctly  to  the  biblical 
flavor  of  the  liturgy,  the  uncompromising  dogmatism  of 
the  authoritative  teaching,  and  the  intense  moral  earnest- 
ness which  prevailed  in  the  Church  of  Luther  in  its  best 
estate.  It  was  a  form  of  art  which  was  native  to  the 
organ,  implied  in  the  very  tone  and  mechanism  of  the 
instrument ;  it  was  absolutely  untouched  by  the  lighter 
tendencies  already  active  in  secular  music.  The  notion 
of  making  the  organ  play  pretty  tunes  and  tickle  the  ear 
with  the  imitative  sound  of  fancy  stops  never  entered 
the  heads  of  the  German  church  musicians.  The 
gravity  and  disciplined  intelligence  proper  to  the  exer- 
cise of  an  ecclesiastical  office  must  pervade  every  contri- 
bution of  the  organist.  This  conception  was  equally  a 
matter  of  course  to  the  mass  of  the  people,  and  so  the 
taste  of  the  congregation  and  the  conviction  of  the  clerical 
authorities  supported  the  organists  in  their  adherence  to 
the  traditions  of  their  strict  and  complex  art.  This 
lordly  style  was  no  less  worthy  of  reverence  in  the  eyes 
of  all  concerned  because  it  was  to  all  intents  a  German 
art,  virtually  unknown  in  other  countries,  except  partially 
in  the  sister  land  of  Holland,  and  therefore  hedged  about 
with  the  sanctions  of  patriotism  as  well  as  the  universally 
admitted  canons  of  religious  musical  expression. 

This  form  of  music  was  evolved  originally  under  the 
suggestion  of  the  mediajval  vocal  polyphony,  —  counter- 

291 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

point  redistributed,  and  systematized  in  accordance  with 
the  modern  development  of  rhythm,  tonality,  and  sec- 
tional structure.  Its  birthplace  was  Italy ;  the  canzona 
of  Frescobaldi  and  his  compeers  was  the  parent  of  the 
fugue.  The  task  of  developing  this  •  Italian  germ  was 
given  to  the  Dutch  and  Germans.  The  instrumental 
instinct  and  constructive  genius  of  such  men  as  Swe- 
linck,  Scheldt,  Buxtehude,  Froberger,  and  Pachelbel 
carried  the  movement  so  far  as  to  reveal  its  full  possi- 
bilities, and  Bach  brought  these  possibilities  to  complete 
realization. 

As  an  organ  player  and  composer  it  would  seem  that 
Bach  stands  at  the  summit  of  human  achievement.  His 
whole  art  as  a  player  is  to  be  found  in  his  fugues, 
preludes,  fantasies,  toccatas,  sonatas,  and  choral  varia- 
tions. In  his  fugues  he  shows  perhaps  most  convinc- 
ingly that  supreme  mastery  of  design  and  splendor  of 
invention  and  fancy  which  have  given  him  the  place 
he  holds  by  universal  consent  among  the  greatest 
artists  of  all  time.  In  these  compositions  there  is  a 
variety  and  individuality  which,  without  such  examples, 
one  could  hardly  suppose  that  this  arbitrary  form  of 
construction  would  admit.  With  Bach  the  fugue  is  no 
dry  intellectual  exercise.  So  far  as  the  absolutism  of 
its  laws  permits,  Bach's  imagination  moved  as  freely  in 
the  fugue  as  Beethoven's  in  the  sonata  or  Schubert's  in 
the  lied.  Its  peculiar  idiom  was  as  native  to  him  as  his 
rugged  Teuton  speech.  A  German  student's  musical 
education  in  that  day  began  with  counterpoint,  as  at 
the  present  time  it  begins  with  figured  bass  harmony ; 
the  ability  to  write  every  species  of  polyphony  with  ease 

292 


JOHANN  SEBASTIAN  BACH 

was  a  matter  of  course  with  every  musical  apprentice. 
But  with  Bach,  the  master,  the  fugue  was  not  merely 
the  sign  of  technical  facility ;  it  was  a  means  of  expres- 
sion, a  supreme  manifestation  of  style.  By  the  telling 
force  of  his  subjects,  the  amazing  dexterity  and  rich 
fancy  displayed  in  their  treatment,  the  ability  to  cover 
the  widest  range  of  emotional  suggestion,  his  fugues 
appeal  to  a  far  deeper  sense  than  wonder  at  technical 
cleverness.  Considering  that  it  lies  in  the  very  essence 
of  the  contrapuntal  style  that  it  should  be  governed 
by  certain  very  rigid  laws  of  design  and  procedure,  we 
may  apply  to  Bach's  organ  works  in  general  a  term 
that  has  been  given  to  architecture,  and  say  that  they 
are  "construction  beautified."  By  this  is  meant  that 
every  feature,  however  beautiful  in  itself,  finds  its  final 
charm  and  justification  only  as  a  necessary  component 
in  the  comprehensive  plan.  Each  detail  helps  to  push 
onward  the  systematic  unfolding  of  the  design,  it  falls 
into  its  place  by  virtue  of  the  laws  of  fitness  and  pro- 
portion ;  logical  and  organic,  but  at  the  same  time  deco- 
rative and  satisfactory  to  the  aesthetic  sense.  There  is 
indeed  something  almost  architectonic  in  these  master- 
pieces of  the  great  Sebastian.  In  their  superb  rolling 
harmonies,  their  dense  involutions,  their  subtle  and 
inevitable  unfoldings,  their  long-drawn  cadences,  and 
their  thrilling  climaxes,  they  seem  to  possess  a  fit  rela- 
tion to  the  vaulted,  reverberating  ceilings,  the  massive 
pillars,  and  the  half-lighted  recesses  of  the  sombre  old 
buildings  in  which  they  had  their  birth.  In  both  the 
architecture  and  the  music  we  seem  to  apprehend  a 
religious  earnestness  which  drew  its  nourishment  from 

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MUSIC  IN   THE    WESTERN   CHURCH 

the  most  hidden  depths  of  the  soul,  and  which,  even 
in  its  moments  of  exultation,  would  not  appear  to  dis- 
regard those  stern  convictions  in  which  it  beUeved  that 
it  found  the  essentials  of  its  faith. 

A  form  of  instrumental  music  existed  in  the  German 
Protestant  Church  which  was  peculiar  to  that  institution, 
and  which  was  exceedingly  significant  as  forming  a  con- 
necting link  between  organ  solo  playing  and  the  congre- 
gational worship.  We  have  seen  that  the  choral,  at  the 
very  establishment  of  the  new  order  by  Luther,  became 
a  characteristic  feature  of  the  office  of  devotion,  entering 
into  the  very  framework  of  the  liturgy  by  virtue  of  the 
official  appointment  of  particular  hymns  (Hauptlieder)  on 
certain  days.  As  soon  as  the  art  of  organ  playing  set 
out  upon  its  independent  career  early  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  the  organists  began  to  take  up  the  choral 
melodies  as  subjects  for  extempore  performance.  These 
tunes  were  especially  adapted  to  this  purpose  by  reason 
of  their  stately  movement  and  breadth  of  style,  which 
gave  opportunity  for  the  display  of  that  mastery  of 
florid  harmonization  in  which  the  essence  of  the  organ- 
ist's art  consisted.  The  organist  never  played  the 
printed  compositions  of  others,  or  even  his  own,  for 
voluntaries.  He  would  no  more  think  of  doing  so  than 
a  clergyman  would  preach  another  man's  sermon,  or 
even  read  one  of  his  own  from  manuscript.  To  this 
day  German  unwritten  law  is  rigorous  on  both  these 
matters.  The  organist's  method  was  always  to  impro- 
vise in  the  strict  style  upon  themes  invented  by  himself 
or  borrowed  from  other  sources.  Nothing  was  more 
natural  than  that  he  should  use  the  choral  tunes  as  his 

294 


JOHANN  SEBASTIAN  BACH 

quarry,  not  only  on  account  of  their  technical  suitable- 
ness, but  still  more  from  the  interest  that  would  be 
aroused  in  the  congregation,  and  the  unity  that  would 
be  established  between  the  office  of  the  organist  and 
that  of  the  people.  The  chorals  that  were  appointed 
for  the  day  would  commonly  furnish  the  player  with 
his  raw  material,  and  the  song  of  the  people  would 
appear  again  soaring  above  their  heads,  adorned  by  ef- 
fective tonal  combinations.  This  method  could  also 
be  employed  to  a  more  moderate  extent  in  accompany- 
ing the  congregation  as  they  sang  the  hymn  in  unison ; 
interludes  between  the  stanzas  and  even  flourishes  at 
the  ends  of  the  lines  would  give  scope  to  the  organist  to 
exhibit  his  knowledge  and  fancy.  The  long-winded 
interlude  at  last  became  an  abuse,  and  was  reduced  or 
suppressed ;  but  the  free  organ  prelude  on  the  entire 
choral  melody  grew  in  favor,  and  before  Bach's  day 
ability  in  this  line  was  the  chief  test  of  a  player's 
competence.  In  Bach's  early  days  choral  preludes  by 
famous  masters  had  found  their  way  into  print  in  large 
numbers,  and  were  the  objects  of  his  assiduous  study. 
His  own  productions  in  this  class  surpassed  all  his 
models,  and  as  a  free  improviser  on  choral  themes  he  ex- 
celled all  his  contemporaries.  "  I  had  supposed,"  said 
the  famous  Reinken,  who  at  the  age  of  ninety-seven 
heard  Bach  extemporize  on  "An  Wasserfliissen  Baby- 
lon "  at  Hamburg,  — "I  had  supposed  that  this  art  was 
dead,  but  I  see  that  it  still  lives  in  you."  In  this  species 
of  playing,  the  hymn  melody  is  given  out  with  one  hand 
or  upon  the  pedals,  while  around  it  is  woven  a  network 
of   freely   moving   parts.      The   prelude  may  be  brief, 

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MUSIC  IN  THE   WESTERN  CHURCH 

included  within  the  space  limits  of  the  original  melody, 
or  it  may  be  indefinitely  extended  by  increasing  the 
length  of  the  choral  notes  and  working  out  interludes 
between  the  lines.  The  one  hundred  and  thirty  choral 
preludes  which  have  come  down  to  us  from  Bach's  pen 
are  samples  of  the  kind  of  thing  that  he  was  extempo- 
rizing Sunday  after  Sunday.  In  these  pieces  the  ac- 
companiment is  sometimes  fashioned  on  the  basis  of  a 
definite  melodic  figure  which  is  carried,  with  modulations 
and  subtle  modifications,  all  through  the  stanza,  some- 
times on  figures  whose  pattern  changes  with  every  fine ; 
while  beneath  or  within  the  sounding  arabesques  are 
heard  the  long  sonorous  notes  of  the  choral,  holding 
the  hearer  firmly  to  the  ground  idea  which  the  player's 
art  is  striving  to  impress  and  beautify.  This  form  of 
music  is  something  very  different  from  the  "  theme  and 
variations,"  which  has  played  so  conspicuous  a  part 
in  the  modern  instrumental  school  from  Haydn  down 
to  the  present.  In  the  choral  prelude  there  is  no  modi- 
fication of  the  theme  itself ;  the  subject  in  single  notes 
forms  a  cantus  firmus,  on  the  same  principle  that  ap- 
pears in  the  mediaeval  vocal  polyphony,  around  which  the 
freely  invented  parts,  moving  laterally,  are  entwined. 
Although  these  compositions  vary  greatly  in  length,  a 
single  presentation  of  the  decorated  choral  tune  suffices 
with  Bach  except  in  rare  instances,  such  as  the  prelude 
on  "  O  Lamm  Gottes  unschuldig,"  in  which  tlie  melody 
is  given  out  three  times,  with  a  different  scheme  of 
ornament  at  each  repetition. 

That  Bach  always  restricts  his  choral  elaboration  to 
the  end  of  illustrating  the  sentiment  of  the  words  with 

396 


JOHANN  SEBASTIAN  BACH 

whicli  the  theme  is  illustrated  would  be  saying  too 
much.  Certainly  he  often  does  so,  as  in  such  beautiful 
examples  as  "  O  Mensch,  bewein'  dein'  Siinde  gross," 
"  Schmiicke  dich,  meine  Hebe  Seele,"  and  that  touching 
setting  of  "  Wenn  wir  in  hdchsten  Ndthen  sein  "  which 
Bach  dictated  upon  his  deathbed.  But  the  purpose  of 
the  choral  prelude  in  the  church  worship  was  not  neces- 
sarily to  reflect  and  emphasize  the  thought  of  the  hymn. 
This  usage  having  become  conventional,  and  the  organ- 
ist being  allowed  much  latitude  in  his  treatment,  his 
pride  in  his  science  would  lead  him  to  dilate  and  elabo- 
rate according  to  a  musical  rather  than  a  poetic  impulse, 
thinking  less  of  appropriateness  to  a  precise  mood  (an 
idea  which,  indeed,  had  hardly  became  lodged  in  instru- 
mental music  in  Bach's  time)  than  of  producing  an 
abstract  work  of  art  contrived  in  accordance  with  the 
formal  prescriptions  of  German  musical  science.  The 
majority  of  Bach's  works  in  this  form  are,  it  must  be 
said,  conventional  and  scholastic,  some  even  dry  and 
pedantic.  Efforts  at  popularizing  them  at  the  present 
day  have  but  slight  success ;  but  in  not  a  few  Bach's 
craving  for  expression  crops  out,  and  some  of  his  most 
gracious  inspirations  are  to  be  found  in  these  inciden- 
tal and  apparently  fugitive  productions. 

In  order  to  win  the  clue  to  Bach's  vocal  as  well  as 
his  instrumental  style,  we  must  constantly  refer  back  to 
liis  works  for  the  organ.  As  Handel's  genius  in  oratorio 
was  shaped  under  the  influence  of  the  Italian  aria, 
direct  or  derived,  and  as  certain  modern  composers, 
such  as  Berlioz,  seize  their  first  conceptions  already 
clothed  in  orchestral  garb,  so  Bach  seemed  to  think  in 

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MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

terms  of  the  organ.     Examine  one  of  his  contrapuntal 
choruses,  or  even  one  of   his  arias   with   its   obligate 
accompaniment,  and  you  are  instantly  reminded  of  the 
mode  of  facture  of  his   organ  pieces.     His   education 
rested  upon  organ  music,  and  he  only  yielded  to  one  of 
the  most  potent  influences  of  his  time  when  he  made  the 
organ  the   dominant  factor  in  his  musical  expression. 
The  instrumental  genius  of  Germany  had  already  come 
to  self-consciousness  at  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, and  was  as  plainly  revealing  itself  in  organ  music 
as  it  did  a  century  later  in  the  sonata  and  symphony. 
The  virtuoso  spirit  —  the  just  pride  in  technical  skill  — 
always  keeps  pace  with  the  development  of  style ;  in  the 
nature  of  things  these  two  are  mutually  dependent  ele- 
ments in  progress.     In  Bach  the  love  of  exercising  his 
skill  as  an  executant  was  a  part  of  his  very  birthright  as 
a  musician.     Tlie  organ  was  to  him  very  much  what  the 
pianoforte  was  to  Liszt,  and  in  each  the  virtuoso  instinct 
was  a  fire  which  must  burst  forth,  or  it  would  consume 
the  very  soul  of  its  possessor.     And  so  we  find  among 
the  fugues,  fantasies,  and  toccatas  of  Bach  compositions 
whose   dazzling  magnificence   is  not  exceeded  by  the 
most  sensational  effusions  of  the  modern  pianoforte  and 
orchestral  schools.     In  all  the  realm  of  music  there  is 
nothing  more  superb  than  those  Niagaras  of  impetuous 
sound  which  roll  through  such  works  as  the  F  major  and 
D  minor  toccatas  and  the  G  major  fantasie,  —  to  select 
examples  out  of  scores  of  equally  apt  illustrations.     But 
sound   and   fury  are  by  no    means  their  aim  ;   Bach's 
invention  and  science  are  never  more  resourceful  than 
when  apparently  driven  by  the  demon  of  unrest.     In 

298 


JOHANN  SEBASTIAN  BACH 

order  to  give  the  freest  sweep  to  his  fancy  Bach,  the 
supreme  lord  of  form,  often  broke  through  form's  con- 
ventionalisms, so  that  even  his  fugues  sometimes  be- 
came, as  they  have  been  called,  fantasies  in  the  form  of 
fugues,  just  as  Beethoven,  under  a  similar  impulse, 
wrote  sonate  quasi  fantasie.  Witness  the  E  minor  fugue 
with  the  "  wedge  theme."  In  Bach's  day  and  country 
there  was  no  concert  stage ;  the  instrumental  virtuoso 
was  the  organist.  It  is  not  necessary  to  suppose,  there- 
fore, that  pieces  so  exciting  to  the  nerves  as  those  to 
which  I  have  alluded  were  all  composed  strictly  for  the 
ordinary  church  worship.  There  were  many  occasions, 
such  as  the  "  opening  "  of  a  new  organ  or  a  civic  festi- 
val, when  the  organist  could  "  let  himself  go  "  without 
incurring  the  charge  of  introducing  a  profane  or  alien 
element.  And  yet,  even  as  church  music,  these 
pieces  were  not  altogether  incongruous.  We  must 
always  keep  in  mind  that  the  question  of  appropriate- 
ness in  church  music  depends  very  much  upon  associa- 
tion and  custom.  A  style  that  would  be  execrated  as 
blasphemous  in  a  Calvinist  assembly  would  be  received 
as  perfectly  becoming  in  a  Catholic  or  Lutheran  cere- 
mony. A  style  of  music  that  has  grown  up  in  the  very 
heart  of  a  certain  Church,  identified  for  generations  with 
the  peculiar  ritual  and  history  of  that  Church,  is  proper 
ecclesiastical  music  so  far  as  that  particular  institution  is 
concerned.  Those  who  condemn  Bach's  music  —  organ 
works,  cantatas,  and  Passions  —  as  unchurchly  ignore 
this  vital  point.  Moreover,  the  conception  of  the  func- 
tion of  music  in  the  service  of  tlie  German  Evangelical 
Church  waa  never  so  austere  that  brilliancy  and  grandeur 

299 


MUSIC  IN  THE   WESTERN  CHURCH 

were  deemed  incompatible  with  the  theory  of  religious 
ceremony.  It  may  be  said  that  Bach's  grandest  organ 
pieces  are  conceived  as  the  expression  of  what  may  be 
called  the  religious  passion  —  the  rapture  which  may  not 
unworthily  come  upon  the  believer  when  his  soul  opens 
to  the  reception  of  ideas  the  most  penetrating  and 
sublime. 

Certainly  no  other  religious  institution  has  come  so 
near  the  solution  of  the  problem  of  the  proper  use  of  the 
instrumental  solo  in  public  worship.  Through  the 
connection  of  the  organ  music  with  the  people's  hymn 
in  the  choral  prelude,  and  the  conformity  of  its  style  to 
that  of  the  choir  music  in  motet  and  cantata,  it  became 
vitally  blended  with  the  whole  office  of  praise  and  prayer ; 
its  effect  was  to  gather  up  and  merge  all  individual  emo- 
tions into  the  projection  of  the  mood  of  aspiration  that 
was  common  to  all. 

The  work  performed  by  Bach  for  the  church  cantata 
was  somewhat  similar  in  nature  to  his  service  to  the 
choral  prelude,  and  was  carried  out  with  a  far  more  lavish 
expenditure  of  creative  power.  The  cantata,  now  no 
longer  a  constituent  of  the  German  Evangelical  worship, 
in  the  eighteenth  century  held  a  place  in  the  ritual  analo- 
gous to  that  occupied  by  the  anthem  in  the  morning  and 
evening  prayer  of  the  Church  of  England.  It  is  always 
of  larger  scale  than  the  anthem,  and  its  size  was  one 
cause  of  its  exclusion  in  the  arbitrary  and  irregular 
reductions  which  the  Evangelical  liturgies  have  under- 
gone in  the  last  century  and  a  half.  There  is  nothing 
in  its  florid  character  to  justify  this  procedure,  for  it  may 
be,  and  in  Bach  usually  is,  more  closely  related  to  the 

300 


JOHANN  SEBASTIAN  BACH 

ritual  framework  than  the  English  anthem,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  manner  in  which  it  has  been  made  to 
absorb  strictly  liturgic  forms  into  its  substance.  Bach, 
in  his  cantatas,  kept  the  notion  of  liturgic  unity 
clearlj'  in  mind.  He  effected  this  unity  largely  by 
his  use  of  the  choral  as  a  conspicuous  element  in  the 
cantata,  often  as  its  very  foundation.  He  checked  the 
Italianizing  process  by  working  the  arioso  recitative, 
the  aria  for  one  or  more  voices,  and  the  chorus  into  one 
grand  musical  scheme,  in  which  his  intricate  organ  style 
served  both  as  fabric  and  decoration.  By  the  unexam- 
pled prominence  which  he  gave  the  choral  as  a  mine  of 
thematic  material,  he  gave  the  cantata  not  only  a  strik- 
ing originality,  but  also  an  air  of  unmistakable  fitness  to 
the  character  and  special  expression  of  tlie  confession 
which  it  served.  By  these  means,  which  are  concerned 
with  its  form,  and  still  more  by  the  astonishing  variety, 
truth,  and  beauty  with  which  he  was  able  to  meet  the 
needs  of  each  occasion  for  which  a  work  of  this  kind  was 
appointed,  he  endowed  his  Church  and  nation  with  a 
treasure  of  religious  song  compared  with  which,  for  mag- 
nitude, diversit}'',  and  power,  the  creative  work  of  any 
other  church  musician  that  may  be  named  —  Palestrina, 
Gabrieli,  or  whoever  he  may  be — sinks  into  insignifi- 
cance. 

Bach  wrote  five  series  of  cantatiis  for  the  Sundays  and 
festal  days  of  the  church  year  —  in  all  two  hundred  and 
ninety-five.  Of  these  two  hundred  and  sixty-six  were 
written  at  Leipsic.  They  vary  greatly  in  lengtli,  the 
shortest  occupying  twenty  minutes  or  so  in  performance, 
the    longest  an  hour   or   more.     Taken  together,  they 

301 


MUSIC  IN   THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

afford  such  an  astonishing  display  of  versatility  that  any 
proper  characterization  of  them  in  a  single  chapter  would 
be  quite  out  of  the  question.  A  considerable  number 
are  available  for  study  in  Peters's  cheap  edition,  and  the 
majority  are  analyzed  with  respect  to  their  salient  fea- 
tures in  Spitta's  encyclopedic  Bach  biography.  Among 
the  great  diversity  of  interesting  qualities  which  they 
exhibit,  the  employment  of  the  choral  must  be  especially 
emphasized  as  affording  the  clue,  already  indicated,  to 
Bach's  whole  conception  of  the  cantata  as  a  species  of 
religious  art.  The  choral,  especially  that  appointed  for 
a  particular  day  (Hauptlied),  is  often  used  as  the  guid- 
ing thread  which  weaves  the  work  into  the  texture  of 
the  whole  daily  office.  In  such  cases  the  chosen  choral 
will  appear  in  the  different  numbers  of  the  work  in  frag- 
ments or  motives,  sometimes  as  subject  for  voice  parts, 
or  woven  into  the  accompaniment  as  theme  or  in  obligato 
fashion.  It  is  more  common  for  entire  lines  of  the  choral 
to  be  treated  as  canti  firmi,  forming  the  subjects  on  which 
elaborate  contrapuntal  choruses  are  constructed,  follow- 
ing precisely  the  same  principle  of  design  that  I  have 
described  in  the  case  of  the  organ  choral  preludes.  In 
multitudes  of  cantata  movements  lines  or  verses  from  two 
or  more  chorals  are  introduced.  There  are  cantatas, 
such  as  "  Wer  nur  den  lieben  Gott,"  in  which  each  num- 
ber, whether  recitative,  aria,  or  chorus,  takes  its  thematic 
material,  intact  or  modified,  from  a  choral.  The  famous 
"Ein'  feste  Burg"  is  a  notable  example  of  a  cantata 
in  which  Bach  adheres  to  a  hymn-tune  in  every  number, 
treating  it  line  by  line,  deriving  from  it  the  pervading 
tone  of  the  work  as  well  as  its  constructional  plan.     The 

302 


JOHANN  SEBASTIAN  BACH 

ways  in  which  Bach  applies  the  store  of  popular  reli- 
gious melody  to  the  higher  uses  of  art  are  legion.  A  can- 
tata of  Bach  usually  ends  with  a  choral  in  its  complete 
ordinary  form,  plainly  but  richly  harmonized  in  note-for- 
note  four-part  setting  as  though  for  congregational  sing- 
ing. It  was  not  the  custom,  however,  in  Bach's  day  for 
the  congregation  to  join  in  this  closing  choral.  There 
are  cantatas,  such  as  the  renowned  "  Ich  hatte  viel  Be- 
kiimmerniss,"  in  which  the  choral  melody  nowhere  ap- 
pears. Such  cantatas  are  rare,  and  the  use  of  the  choral 
became  more  prominent  and  systematic  in  Bach's  work 
as  time  went  on. 

The  devotional  ideal  of  the  Protestant  Church  as 
compared  with  the  Catholic  gives  far  more  liberal 
recognition  to  the  private  religious  consciousness  of 
the  individual.  The  believer  does  not  so  completely 
surrender  his  personality;  in  his  mental  reactions  to 
the  ministrations  of  the  clergy  he  still  remains  aware 
of  that  inner  world  of  experience  which  is  his  world, 
not  merged  and  lost  in  the  universalized  life  of  a  reli- 
gious community.  The  Church  is  his  inspirer  and 
guide,  not  his  absolute  master.  The  foundation  of  the 
German  choral  was  a  religious  declaration  of  indepen- 
dence. The  German  hymns  were  each  the  testimony  of 
a  thinker  to  his  own  private  conception  of  religious 
truth.  The  tone  and  feeling  of  each  hymn  were  sug- 
gested and  colored  by  the  general  doctrine  of  the 
Church,  but  not  dictated.  The  adoption  of  these 
utterances  of  independent  feeling  into  the  liturgy  was 
a  recognition  on  the  part  of  authority  of  individual 
right.     It  was  not  a  concession;  it  was   the  legal  ac- 

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MUSIC  IN   THE   WESTERN   CHURCH 

knowledgment  of  a  fundamental  principle.  Parallel 
to  this  significant  privilege  was  the  admission  of  music 
of  the  largest  variety  and  penetrated  at  will  with 
subjective  feeling.  This  conception  was  carried  out 
consistently  in  the  cantata  as  established  by  Bach,  most 
liberally,  of  course,  in  the  arias.  The  words  of  the 
cantata  consisted  of  Bible  texts,  stanzas  of  church 
hymns,  and  religious  poems,  the  whole  illustrating 
some  Scripture  theme  or  referring  to  some  especial 
commemoration.  The  hard  and  fast  metrical  schemes 
of  the  German  hymns  were  unsuited  to  the  structure 
and  rhythm  of  the  aria,  and  so  a  form  of  verse  known 
as  the  madrigal,  derived  from  Italy,  was  used  when 
rhythmical  flexibility  was  an  object.  For  all  these 
reasons  we  have  in  Bach's  arias  the  widest  license  of 
expression  admissible  in  the  school  of  art  which  he 
represented.  The  Hamburg  composers,  in  their  shal- 
low aims,  had  boldly  transferred  the  Italian  concert  aria 
as  it  stood  into  the  Church,  as  a  sign  of  their  complete 
defiance  of  ecclesiastical  prescription.  Not  so  Bach; 
the  ancient  churchly  ideal  was  to  him  a  thing  to  be 
reverenced,  even  when  he  departed  from  it.  He, 
therefore,  took  a  middle  course.  The  Italian  notion 
of  an  aria  —  buoyant,  tuneful,  the  voice  part  sufficient 
unto  itself  —  had  noplace  in  Bach's  method.  A  melody 
to  him  was  usually  a  detail  in  a  contrapuntal  scheme. 
And  so  he  wove  the  voice  part  into  the  accompaniment, 
a  single  instrument  —  a  violin,  perhaps,  or  oboe  —  often 
raised  into  relief,  vying  with  the  voice  on  equal  terms, 
often  soaring  above  it  and  carrying  the  principal  theme, 
while   the    voice    part  serves   as   an    obligato.      This 

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JOHANN  SEBASTIAN  BACH 

method,  hardly  consistent  with  a  pure  vocal  system, 
often  results  with  Bach,  it  must  be  confessed,  in  some- 
thing very  mechanical  and  monotonous  to  modern  ears. 
The  artifice  is  apparent ;  the  author  seems  more  bent  on 
working  out  a  sort  of  algebraic  formula  than  interpret- 
ing the  text  to  the  sensibility.  From  the  traditional 
point  of  view  this  method  is  not  in  itself  mal  du  propos^ 
for  such  a  treatment  raises  the  sentiment  into  that  calm 
region  of  abstraction  which  is  the  proper  refuge  of  the 
devotional  mood.  But  here,  as  in  the  organ  pieces. 
Bach  is  no  slave  to  his  technic.  There  are  many  arias 
in  his  cantatas  in  which  the  musical  expression  is  not 
only  beautiful  and  touching  in  the  highest  degree,  but 
also  yields  with  wonderful  truth  to  every  mutation  of 
feeling  in  the  text.  Still  more  impressively  is  this 
mastery  of  expression  shown  in  the  arioso  recitatives. 
In  their  depth  and  beauty  they  are  unique  in  religious 
music.  Only  in  very  rare  moments  can  Handel  pretend 
to  rival  them.  Mendelssohn  reflects  them  in  his  ora- 
torios and  psalms,  —  as  the  moon  reflects  the  sun. 

The  choruses  of  Bach's  cantatas  would  furnish  a  field 
for  endless  study.  Nowhere  else  is  his  genius  more 
grandly  displayed.  The  only  work  entitled  to  be 
compared  with  these  choruses  is  found  in  Handel's 
oratorios.  In  drawing  such  a  parallel,  and  observing 
the  greater  variety  of  style  in  Handel,  we  must  remem- 
ber that  Bach's  cantatas  are  church  music.  Handel's 
oratorios  are  not.  Bach's  cantata  texts  are  not  only 
confined  to  a  single  sphere  of  thought,  viz.^  the  devo- 
tional, but  they  are  also  strictly  lyric.  The  church 
cantata  does  not  admit  any  suggestion  of  action  or 
20  305 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

external  picture.  The  oratorio,  on  the  other  hand,  is 
practically  unlimited  in  scope,  and  in  Handel's  choruses 
the  style  and  treatment  are  given  almost  unrestrained 
license  in  the  way  of  dramatic  and  epic  suggestion. 
Within  the  restrictions  imposed  upon  him,  however, 
Bach  expends  upon  his  choruses  a  wealth  of  invention 
in  design  and  expression  not  less  wonderful  than  that 
exhibited  in  his  organ  works.  The  motet  form,  the 
free  fantasia  and  the  choral  fantasia  forms  are  all  em- 
ployed, and  every  device  known  to  his  art  is  applied 
for  the  illustration  of  the  text.  Grace  and  tenderness, 
when  the  cheering  assurances  of  the  Gospel  are  the 
theme,  crushing  burdens  of  gloom  when  the  author's 
thought  turns  to  the  mysteries  of  death  and  judgment, 
mournfulness  in  view  of  sin,  the  pleading  accents  of 
contrition,  —  every  manifestation  of  emotion  which  a 
rigid  creed,  allied  to  a  racial  mysticism  which  evades 
positive  conceptions,  can  call  forth  is  projected  in  tones 
whose  strength  and  fervor  were  never  attained  before 
in  religious  music.  It  is  Bach's  organ  style  which  is 
here  in  evidence,  imparting  to  the  chorus  its  close-knit 
structure  and  majesty  of  sound,  humanized  by  a  melody 
drawn  from  the  choral  and  from  what  was  most  refined 
in  Italian  art. 

"One  peculiar  trait  in  Bach's  nature,"  says  Kretz- 
schmar,  "is  revealed  in  the  cantatas  in  grand,  half- 
distinct  outlines,  and  this  is  the  longing  for  death  and 
life  with  the  Lord.  This  theme  is  struck  in  the  can- 
tatas more  frequently  than  almost  any  other.  We 
know  him  as  a  giant  nature  in  all  situations;  great 
and  grandiose  is   also   his  joy  and   cheerfulness.     But 

306 


JOHANN  SEBASTIAN  BACR 

never,  we  believe,  does  his  art  work  with  fuller  energy 
and  abandonment  than  when  his  texts  express  earth- 
weariness  and  the  longing  for  the  last  hour.  The 
fervor  which  then  displays  itself  in  ever-varying  regis- 
ters, in  both  calm  and  stormy  regions,  has  in  it  some- 
thing almost  demonic. "  ^ 

The  work  that  has  most  contributed  to  make  the 
name  of  Bach  familiar  to  the  educated  world  at  large  is 
the  Passion  according  to  St.  Matthew.  Bach  wrote 
five  Passions,  of  which  only  two  —  the  St.  John  and 
the  St.  Matthew  —  have  come  down  to  us.  The  former 
has  a  rugged  force  like  one  of  Michael  Angelo's  unpol- 
ished statues,  but  it  cannot  fairly  be  compared  to  the 
St.  Matthew  in  largeness  of  conception  or  beauty  of 
detail.  In  Bach's  treatment  of  the  Passion  story  we 
have  the  culmination  of  the  artistic  development  of  the 
early  liturgic  practice  whose  progress  has  already  been 
sketched.  Bach  completed  the  process  of  fusing  the 
Italian  aria  and  recitative  with  the  German  chorus, 
hymn-tune,  and  organ  and  orchestral  music,  interspers- 
ing the  Gospel  narrative  with  lyric  sections  in  the  form 
of  airs,  arioso  recitatives,  and  choruses,  in  which  the 
feelings  proper  to  a  believer  meditating  on  the  suffer- 
ings of  Christ  in  behalf  of  mankind  are  portrayed  with 
all  the  poignancy  of  pathos  of  which  Bach  was  master. 

Ivviudicious  critics  have  sometimes  attempted  to  set 
bp  a  comijarison  between  the  St.  Matthew  Passion  and 
Handel's  "Mes*iab/'  questioning  which  is  the  greater. 
But  such  captious  rivalry  is  derogatory  to  both,  for 
they  are  not  to  be  gauged  by  the  same  standard.     To 

^  Eretzschmar,  Fiihrcr  durch  den  Concertsaal ;  Kirchliche  Werke. 
307 


MUSIC  IN   THE   WESTERN  CHURCH 

say  nothing  of  the  radical  differences  in  style,  origin, 
and  artistic  conception,  —  the  one  a  piece  of  Lutheran 
church  music,  the  other  an  English  concert  oratorio  of 
Italian  ancestry,  — they  are  utterly  unlike  also  in  poetic 
intention.  Bach's  work  deals  only  with  the  human  in 
Christ;  it  is  the  narrative  of  his  last  interviews  with 
his  disciples,  his  arrest,  trial,  and  death,  together  with 
comments  by  imagined  personalities  contemplating 
these  events,  both  in  their  immediate  action  upon  the 
sensibilities  and  in  their  doctrinal  bearing.  It  is, 
therefore,  a  work  so  mixed  in  style  that  it  is  difficult 
to  classify  it,  for  it  is  both  epic  and  implicitly  dramatic, 
while  in  all  its  lyric  features  it  is  set  firmly  into  the 
Evangelical  liturgic  scheme.  The  text  and  musical 
construction  of  the  "  Messiah  "  have  no  connection  with 
any  liturgy ;  it  is  concert  music  of  a  universal  religious 
character,  almost  devoid  of  narrative,  and  with  no 
dramatic  suggestion  whatever.  Each  is  a  triumph  of 
genius,  but  of  genius  working  with  quite  different 
intentions. 

In  the  formal  arrangement  of  the  St.  Matthew  Pas- 
sion Bach  had  no  option ;  he  must  perforce  comply  with 
church  tradition.  The  narrative  of  the  evangelist,  taken 
without  change  from  St.  Matthew's  Gospel  and  sung 
in  recitative  by  a  tenor,  is  the  thread  upon  which  the 
successive  divisions  are  strung.  The  words  of  Jesus, 
Peter,  the  high  priest,  and  Pilate  are  given  to  a  bass, 
and  are  also  in  recitative.  The  Jews  and  the  disciples 
are  represented  by  choruses.  The  "Protestant  con- 
gregation "  forms  another  group,  singing  appropriate 
chorals.     A  third   element   comprises  the   company  of 

308 


JOHANN  SEBASTIAN  BACH 

believers  and  the  "  daughter  of  Zion, "  singing  choruses 
and  arias  in  comment  upon  the  situations  as  described 
by  the  evangelist.  It  must  be  remembered  that  these 
chorus  factors  are  not  indicated  by  any  division  of 
singers  into  groups.  The  work  is  performed  through- 
out by  the  same  company  of  singers,  in  Bach's  day  by 
the  diminutive  choir  of  the  Leipsic  Church,  composed 
of  boys  and  young  men.  Even  in  the  chorals  the  con- 
gregation took  no  part.  The  idea  of  the  whole  is  much 
the  same  as  in  a  series  of  old  Italian  chapel  frescoes. 
The  disciple  sits  with  Christ  at  the  last  supper,  accom- 
panies him  to  the  garden  of  Gethsemane  and  to  the 
procurator's  hall,  witnesses  his  mockery  and  condem- 
nation, and  takes  his  station  at  the  foot  of  the  cross, 
lamenting  alternately  the  sufferings  of  his  Lord  and  the 
sin  which  demanded  such  a  sacrifice. 

Upon  this  prescribed  formula  Bach  has  poured  all 
the  wealth  of  his  experience,  his  imagination,  and  his 
piety.  His  science  is  not  brought  forward  so  promi- 
nently as  in  many  of  his  works,  and  where  he  finds  it 
necessary  to  employ  it  he  subordinates  it  to  tlie  expres- 
sion of  feeling.  Yet  we  cannot  hear  without  amaze- 
ment the  gigantic  opening  movement  in  which  the  awful 
burden  of  the  great  tragedy  is  foreshadowed ;  where,  as 
if  organ,  orchestra,  and  double  chorus  were  not  enough 
to  sustain  the  composer's  conception,  a  ninth  part, 
bearing  a  choral  melody,  floats  above  the  surging  mass 
of  sound,  holding  the  thought  of  the  hearer  to  the  sig- 
nificance of  the  coming  scenes.  The  long  chorus  which 
closes  the  first  part,  which  is  constructed  in  the  form 
of  a  figured   choral,  is  also  built   upon  a  scale  which 

309 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN   CHURCH 

Bach  has  seldom  exceeded.  But  the  structure  of  the 
work  in  general  is  comparatively  open,  and  the  expres- 
sion direct  and  clear.  An  atmosphere  of  profoundest 
gloom  pervades  the  work  from  beginning  to  end,  ever 
growing  darker  as  the  scenes  of  the  terrible  drama 
advance  and  culminate,  yet  here  and  there  relieved  by 
gleams  of  divine  tenderness  and  human  pity.  That 
Bach  was  able  to  carry  a  single  mood,  and  that  a  de- 
pressing one,  through  a  composition  of  three  hours' 
length  without  falling  into  monotony  at  any  point  is 
one  of  the  miracles  of  musical  creation. 

The  meditative  portions  of  the  work  in  aria,  recita- 
tive, and  chorus  are  rendered  with  great  beauty  and 
pathos,  in  spite  of  occasional  archaic  stiffness.  Dry 
and  artificial  some  of  the  da  capo  arias  undoubtedly 
are,  for  that  quality  of  fluency  which  always  accom- 
panies genius  never  yet  failed  to  beguile  its  possessor 
into  by-paths  of  dulness.  But  work  purely  formalistic 
is  not  common  in  the  St.  Matthew  Passion.  Never  did 
religious  music  afford  anything  more  touching  and 
serene  than  such  numbers  as  the  tenor  solo  and  chorus, 
"Ich  will  bei  meinem  Jesu  wachen,"  the  bass  solo, 
"Am  Abend,  da  es  kiihle  war,"  and  the  recitative  and 
chorus,  matchless  in  tenderness,  beginning  "  Nun  ist 
der  Herr  zur  Ruh'  gebracht."  Especially  impressive 
are  the  tones  given  to  the  words  of  the  Saviour.  These 
tones  are  distinguished  from  those  of  the  other  person- 
ages not  only  by  their  greater  melodic  beauty,  but  also 
by  their  accompaniment,  which  consists  of  the  stringed 
instruments,  while  the  other  recitatives  are  supported 
by  the  organ  alone.     In  Christ's  despairing   cry  upon 

310 


JOHANN  SEBASTIAN   BACH 

the  cross,  "Eli,  Eli,  lama  sabachthani, "  this  ethereal 
stringed  accompaniment  is  extinguished.  What  Bach 
intended  to  signify  by  this  change  is  not  certainly 
known.  This  exclamation  of  Jesus,  the  only  instance 
i:i  his  life  when  he  seemed  to  lose  his  certainty  of  the 
divine  cooperation,  must  be  distinguished  in  some  way, 
Bach  probably  thought,  from  all  his  other  utterances. 
Additional  musical  means  would  be  utterly  futile,  for 
neither  music  nor  any  other  art  has  any  expression  for 
the  mental  anguish  of  that  supreme  moment.  The  only 
expedient  possible  was  to  reduce  music  at  that  point, 
substituting  plain  organ  chords,  and  let  the  words  of 
Christ  stand  out  in  bold  relief  in  all  their  terrible 
significance. 

The  chorals  in  the  St.  Matthew  Passion  are  taken 
bodily,  both  words  and  tunes,  from  the  church  hymn- 
book.  Prominent  among  them  is  the  famous  "  O 
Haupt  voU  Blut  und  Wunden  "  by  Gerhardt  after  St. 
Bernard,  which  is  used  five  times.  These  choral  melo- 
dies are  harmonized  in  simple  homophonic  style,  but 
with  extreme  beauty.  As  an  instance  of  the  poetic 
fitness  with  which  these  chorals  are  introduced  we  may 
cite  the  last  in  the  work,  where  immediately  after  the 
words  "Jesus  cried  with  a  loud  voice  and  gave  up  the 
ghost,"  the  chorus  sings  a  stanza  beginning  "When 
my  death  hour  approaches  forsake  not  me,  O  Lord." 
"This  climax,"  says  Spitta,  "has  always  been  justly 
regarded  as  one  of  the  most  thrilling  of  the  whole 
work.  The  infinite  significance  of  the  sacrifice  could 
not  be  more  simply,  comprehensively,  and  convincingly 
expressed  than  in  this  marvellous  prayer." 

311 


MUSIC  IN   THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

This  wonderful  creation  closes  with  a  chorus  of  fare- 
well sung  beside  the  tomb  of  Jesus.  It  is  a  worthy 
close,  for  nothing  more  lovely  and  affecting  was  ever 
confided  to  human  lips.  The  gloom  and  agony  that 
have  pervaded  the  scenes  of  temptation,  trial,  and  death 
have  quite  vanished.  The  tone  is  indeed  that  of 
lamentation,  for  the  Passion  drama  in  its  very  aim  and 
tradition  did  not  admit  any  anticipation  of  the  resur- 
rection; neither  in  the  Catholic  or  Lutheran  cere- 
monies of  Good  Friday  is  there  a  foreshadowing  of  the 
Easter  rejoicing.  But  the  sentiment  of  this  closing 
chorus  is  not  one  of  hopeless  grief;  it  expresses  rather 
a  sense  of  relief  that  suffering  is  past,  mingled  with  a 
strain  of  solemn  rapture,  as  if  dimly  conscious  that  the 
tomb  is  not  the  end  of  all. 

The  first  performance  of  the  St.  Matthew  Passion 
took  place  in  the  Thomas  church  at  Leipsic,  on  Good 
Friday,  April  15,  1729.  It  was  afterwards  revised  and 
extended,  and  performed  again  in  1740.  From  that 
time  it  was  nowhere  heard  until  it  was  produced  by 
Felix  Mendelssohn  in  the  Sing  Academic  at  Berlin  in 
1829.  The  impression  it  produced  was  profound,  and 
marked  the  beginning  of  the  revival  of  the  study  of 
Bach  which  has  been  one  of  the  most  fruitful  move- 
ments in  nineteenth-century  music. 

A  work  equally  great  in  a  different  way,  although  it 
can  never  become  the  object  of  such  popular  regard  as 
the  St.  Matthew  Passion,  is  the  Mass  in  B  minor.  It 
may  seem  strange  that  the  man  who  more  than  any 
other  interpreted  in  art  the  genius  of  Protestantism 
should  have  contributed  to  a  form  of  music  that  is  iden- 

312 


JOHANN   SEBASTIAN  BACH 

tified  with  the  Catholic  ritual.  It  must  be  remembered 
that  Luther  was  by  no  means  inclined  to  break  with  all 
the  forms  and  usages  of  the  mother  Church.  He  had  no 
quarrel  with  those  features  of  her  rites  which  did  not 
embody  the  doctrines  which  he  disavoweci,  and  most 
heartily  did  he  recognize  the  beauty  and  edifying  power 
of  Catholic  music.  We  have  seen  also  that  he  was 
in  favor  of  retaining  the  Latin  in  communities  where 
it  was  understood.  Hence  it  was  that  not  only  in 
Luther's  day,  but  long  after,  the  Evangelical  Church 
retained  many  musical  features  that  had  become  sacred 
in  the  practice  of  the  ancient  Church.  The  congre- 
gations of  Leipsio  were  especially  conservative  in  this 
respect.  The  entire  mass  in  figured  form,  however, 
was  not  used  in  the  Leipsic  service ;  on  certain  special 
days  a  part  only  would  be  sung.  The  Kyrie  and 
Gloria,  known  among  the  Lutheran  musicians  as  the 
"short  mass,"  were  frequently  employed.  The  B 
minor  Mass  was  not  composed  for  the  Leipsic  ser- 
vice, but  for  the  chapel  of  the  king  of  Saxony  in 
Bach's  honorary  capacity  of  composer  to  the  royal 
and  electoral  court.  It  was  begun  in  1735  and  finished 
in  1738,  but  was  not  performed  entire  in  Bach's  life- 
time. By  the  time  it  was  completed  it  had  outgrown 
the  dimensions  of  a  service  mass,  and  it  has  probably 
never  been  sung  in  actual  church  worship.  It  is  so 
difficult  that  its  performance  is  an  event  worthy  of 
special  commemoration.  Its  first  complete  production 
in  the  United  States  was  at  Bethlehem,  Pa.,  in  the 
spring  of  1900.  It  is  enough  to  say  of  this  work 
here  that  all  Bach's  powers  as  fabricator  of   intricate 

313 


MUSIC  IN  THE   WESTERN   CHURCH 

design,  and  as  master  of  all  the  shades  of  expression 
which  the  contrapuntal  style  admits,  are  forced  to  their 
furthest  limit.  So  vast  is  it  in  scale,  so  majestic  in  its 
movement,  so  elemental  in  the  grandeur  of  its  climaxes, 
that  it  may  well  be  taken  as  the  loftiest  expression  in 
tones  of  the  prophetic  faith  of  Christendom,  unless 
Beethoven's  Missa  Solemnis  may  dispute  the  title.  It 
belongs  not  to  the  Catholic  communion  alone,  nor  to 
the  Protestant,  but  to  the  Church  universal,  the  Church 
visible  and  invisible,  the  Church  militant  and  trium- 
phant. The  greatest  master  of  the  sublime  in  choral 
music.  Bach  in  this  mass  sounded  all  the  depths  of  his 
unrivalled  science  and  his  imaginative  energy. 

There  is  no  loftier  example  in  history  of  artistic 
genius  devoted  to  the  service  of  religion  than  we  find 
in  Johann  Sebastian  Bach.  He  always  felt  that  his 
life  was  consecrated  to  God,  to  the  honor  of  the  Church 
and  the  well-being  of  men.  Next  to  this  fact  we  are 
impressed  in  studying  him  with  his  vigorous  intellec- 
tuality, by  which  I  mean  his  accurate  estimate  of  the 
nature  and  extent  of  his  own  powers  and  his  easy  self- 
adjustment  to  his  environment.  He  was  never  the  sport 
of  his  genius  but  always  its  master,  never  carried  away 
like  so  many  others,  even  the  greatest,  into  extravagan- 
cies or  rash  experiments.  Mozart  and  Beethoven  failed 
in  oratorio,  Schubert  in  opera ;  the  Italian  operas  of 
Gluck  and  Handel  have  perished.  Even  in  the  suc- 
cessful work  of  these  men  there  is  a  strange  inequal- 
ity. But  upon  all  that  Bach  attempted  —  and  the 
amount  of  his  work  is  no  less  a  marvel  than  its  quality 
—  he  affixed  the  stamp  of  final  and  inimitable  perfec- 

314 


JOHANN  SEBASTIAN  BACH 

tion.  We  know  from  testimony  that  this  perfection 
was  the  result  of  thought  and  unflagging  toil.  The 
file  was  not  the  least  serviceable  tool  in  his  work- 
shop. This  intellectual  restraint,  operating  upon  a 
highly  intellectualized  form  of  art,  often  gives  Bach's 
music  an  air  of  severity,  a  scholastic  hardness,  which 
repels  sympathy  and  makes  difficult  the  path  to  the 
treasures  it  contains.  The  musical  culture  of  our  age 
has  been  so  long  based  on  a  different  school  that  no 
little  discipline  is  needed  to  adjust  the  mind  to  Bach's 
manner  of  presenting  his  profound  ideas.  The  diffi- 
culty is  analogous  to  that  experienced  in  acquiring 
an  appreciation  of  Gothic  sculpture  and  the  Floren- 
tine painting  of  the  fourteenth  century.  We  are 
compelled  to  learn  a  new  musical  language,  for  it  is 
only  in  a  qualified  sense  that  the  language  of  music 
is  universal.  We  must  put  ourselves  into  another 
century,  face  another  order  of  ideas  than  those  of  our 
own  age.  We  must  learn  the  temper  of  the  Ger- 
man mind  in  the  Reformation  period  and  after,  its 
proud  self-assertion,  coupled  to  an  aggressive  positive- 
ness  of  religious  belief,  which,  after  all,  was  but  the 
hard  shell  which  enclosed  a  rare  sweetness  of  piety. 

All  through  Bach  we  feel  the  well-known  German 
mysticism  which  seeks  the  truth  in  the  instinctive 
convictions  of  the  soul,  the  idealism  which  takes  the 
mind  as  the  measure  of  existence,  the  romanticism 
which  colors  the  outer  world  with  the  hues  of  per- 
sonal temperament.  Bach's  historic  position  required 
that  this  spirit,  in  many  ways  so  modern,  should 
take   shape   in   forms   to  which  still  clung   the  tech- 

815 


MUSIC  IN  THE   WESTERN  CHURCH 

nical  methods  of  an  earlier  time.  His  all-encompassing 
organ  style  was  Gothic  —  if  we  may  use  such  a  term 
for  illustration's  sake  —  not  Renaissance.  His  style 
is  Teutonic  in  the  widest  as  well  as  the  most  literal 
sense.  It  is  based  on  forms  identified  with  the  practice 
of  the  people  in  church  and  home.  He  recognized  not 
the  priestly  or  the  aristocratic  element,  but  the  popular. 
His  significance  in  the  history  of  German  Evangelical 
Christianity  is  great.  Protestantism,  like  Catholicism, 
has  had  its  supreme  poet.  As  Dante  embodied  in  an 
immortal  epic  the  philosophic  conceptions,  the  hopes 
and  fears  of  mediaeval  Catholicism,  so  Bach,  less 
obviously  but  no  less  truly,  in  his  cantatas,  Passions, 
and  choral  preludes,  lent  the  illuminating  power  of 
his  art  to  the  ideas  which  brought  forth  the  Reforma- 
tion. It  is  the  central  demand  of  Protestantism,  the 
immediate  personal  access  of  man  to  God,  which, 
constituting  a  new  motive  in  German  national  music, 
gave  shape  and  direction  to  Bach's  creative  genius. 

It  has  been  reserved  for  recent  years  to  discover 
that  the  title  of  chief  representative  in  art  of  German 
Protestantism  is,  after  all,  not  the  sum  of  Bach's 
claims  to  honor.  There  is  something  in  his  art  that 
touches  the  deepest  chords  of  religious  feeling  in  wliat- 
ever  communion  that  feeling  has  been  nurtured.  His 
music  is  not  the  music  of  a  confession,  but  of  human- 
ity. What  changes  the  spirit  of  religious  progress 
is  destined  to  undergo  in  the  coming  years  it  would 
be  vain  to  predict ;  but  it  is  safe  to  assume  that  the 
warrant  of  faith  will  not  consist  in  authority  com- 
mitted to  councils  or  synods,  or  altogether  in  a  verbal 

316 


JOHANN  SEBASTIAN  BACH 

revelation  supposed  to  have  been  vouchsafed  at  cer- 
tain epochs  in  the  past,  but  in  the  intuition  of  the 
continued  presence  of  the  eternal  creative  spirit  in 
the  soul  of  man.  This  consciousness,  of  which  creeds 
and  liturgies  are  but  partial  and  temporary  symbols, 
can  find  no  adequate  artistic  expression  unless  it  be 
in  the  art  of  music.  The  more  clearly  this  fact  is 
recognized  by  the  world,  the  more  the  fame  of  Sebas- 
tian Bach  will  increase,  for  no  other  musician  has 
so  amply  embraced  and  so  deeply  penetrated  the  uni- 
versal religious  sentiment.  It  may  well  be  said  of 
Bach  what  a  French  critic  says  of  Albrecht  Diirer: 
"  He  was  an  intermediary  between  the  Middle  Age  and 
our  modern  times.  Typical  of  the  former  in  that  he  was 
primarily  a  craftsman,  laboring  with  all  the  sincerity 
and  unconscious  modesty  of  the  good  workman  who 
delights  in  his  labor,  he  yet  felt  something  of  the  tor- 
mented spiritual  unrest  of  the  latter ;  and  indeed  so  strik- 
ingly reflects  what  we  call  the  '  modern  spirit '  that  his 
work  has  to-day  more  influence  upon  our  own  thought 
and  art  than  it  had  upon  that  of  his  contemporaries."  ^ 

The  verdict  of  the  admirers  of  Bach  in  respect  to 
his  greatness  is  not  annulled  when  it  is  found  that  the 
power  and  real  significance  of  his  work  were  not  com- 
preliended  by  the  mass  of  his  countrymen  during  his 
life,  and  that  outside  of  Leipsic  he  exerted  little  in- 
fluence upon  religious  art  for  nearly  a  century  after  his 
death.  He  was  not  the  less  a  typical  German  on  this 
account.     Only  at  certain  critical  moments  do  nations 

^  Ars^ue  Alexandre,  Histoire  populaire  de  la  Peinture. 
817 


MUSIC  IN   THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

seem  to  be  true  to  their  better  selves,  and  it  often 
happens  that  their  greatest  men  appear  in  periods  of 
general  moral  relaxation,  apparently  rebuking  the  un- 
worthiness  of  their  fellow  citizens  instead  of  exemplify- 
ing common  traits  of  character.  But  later  generations 
are  able  to  see  that,  after  all,  these  men  are  not  detached  ; 
their  real  bases,  although  out  of  sight  for  the  time,  are 
immovably  set  in  nationality.  Milton  was  no  less 
representative  of  pemianent  elements  in  English  char- 
acter when  "  fallen  upon  evil  days,"  when  the  direc- 
tion of  affairs  seemed  given  over  to  "  sons  of  Belial,'* 
who  mocked  at  all  he  held  necessary  to  social  welfare. 
Michael  Angelo  was  still  a  genuine  son  of  Italy  when 
he  mourned  in  bitterness  of  soul  over  her  degradation. 
And  so  the  spirit  that  pervaded  the  life  and  works  of 
Bach  is  a  German  spirit,  —  a  spirit  which  Germany  has 
often  seemed  to  disown,  but  which  in  times  of  need 
has  often  reasserted  itself  with  splendid  confidence  and 
called  her  back  to  soberness  and  sincerity. 

When  Bach  had  passed  away,  it  seemed  as  if  the 
mighty  force  he  exerted  had  been  dissipated.  He  had 
not  checked  the  decline  of  church  music.  The  art  of 
organ  playing  degenerated.  The  choirs,  never  really 
adequate,  became  more  and  more  unable  to  do  justice 
to  the  great  works  that  had  been  bequeathed  to  them. 
The  public  taste  relaxed,  and  the  demand  for  a  more 
florid  and  fetching  kind  of  song  naturalized  in  the 
Church  the  theatrical  style  already  predominant  in 
France  and  Italy.  The  people  lost  their  perception  of 
the  real  merit  of  their  old  chorals  and  permitted  them 
to  be  altered  to  suit  the  requirements  of  contemporary 

318 


JOHANN   SEBASTIAN  BACH 

fashion,  or  else  sliglited  them  altogether  in  favor  of  the 
new  "  art  song."  No  composers  appeared  who  were 
able  or  cared  to  perpetuate  the  old  traditions.  This 
tendency  was  inevitable;  its  causes  are  perfectly  ap- 
parent to  any  one  who  knows  the  conditions  prevailing 
in  religion  and  art  in  Germany  in  the  last  half  of  the 
eighteenth  and  the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
turies. Pietism,  with  all  its  merits,  had  thrown  a  sort 
of  puritanic  wet  blanket  over  art  in  its  protest  against 
the  external  and  formal  in  worship.  In  the  orthodox 
church  circles  the  enthusiasm  necessary  to  nourish  a 
wholesome  spiritual  life  and  a  living  church  art  at  the 
same  time  had  sadly  abated.  The  inculcation  of  a  dry 
utilitarian  morality  and  the  cultivation  of  a  dogmatic 
pedantry  had  taken  the  place  of  the  joyous  freedom  of 
the  Gospel.  Other  more  direct  causes  also  entered  to 
turn  public  interest  away  from  the  music  of  the  Church. 
The  Italian  opera,  with  its  equipment  of  sensuous  fasci- 
nations, devoid  of  serious  aims,  was  at  the  high  tide 
of  its  popularity,  patronized  by  the  ruling  classes,  and 
giving  the  tone  to  all  the  musical  culture  of  the  time. 
A  still  more  obvious  impediment  to  the  revival  of 
popular  interest  in  church  music  was  the  rapid  forma- 
tion throughout  Germany  of  choral  societies  devoted 
to  the  performance  of  oratorios.  Following  the  example 
of  England,  these  societies  took  up  the  works  of  Handel, 
and  the  enthusiasm  excited  by  Haydn's  "  Creation  "  in 
1798  gave  a  still  more  powerful  stimulus  to  the  move- 
ment. These  choral  unions  had  no  connection  with  the 
church  choirs  of  the  eighteenth  century,  but  grew  out 
of    private   musical   associations.      The   great   German 

319 


MUSIC  IN   THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

music  festivals  date  from  about  1810,  and  they  absorbed 
tiie  interest  of  those  composers  whose  talent  turned 
towaixis  works  of  religious  content.  The  church  choirs 
were  already  in  decline  when  the  choral  societies  began 
to  raise  their  heads.  Cantatas  and  Passions  were  no 
longer  heard  in  church  worship.  Their  place  in  public 
regard  was  taken  by  the  concert  oratorio.  The  current 
of  instrumental  music,  one  of  the  chief  glories  of  Ger- 
man art  in  the  nineteenth  century,  was  absorbing  more 
and  more  of  the  contributions  of  German  genius.  The 
whole  trend  of  the  age  was  toward  secular  music.  It 
would  appear  that  a  truly  great  art  of  church  music 
cannot  maintain  itself  beside  a  rising  enthusiasm  for 
secular  music.  Either  the  two  styles  will  be  amalga- 
mated, and  church  music  be  transformed  to  the  measure 
of  the  other,  as  happened  in  the  case  of  Catholic  music, 
or  church  song  will  stagnate,  as  was  the  case  in  Protes- 
tant Germany. 

After  the  War  of  Liberation,  ending  with  the  down- 
fall of  Napoleon's  tyranny,  and  when  Germany  began 
to  enter  upon  a  period  of  critical  self-examination, 
demands  began  to  be  heard  for  the  reinstatement  of 
church  music  on  a  worthier  basis.  The  assertion  of 
nationality  in  other  branches  of  musical  art  —  the  sym- 
phonies of  Beethoven,  the  songs  of  Schubert,  the  operas 
of  Weber  —  was  echoed  in  the  domain  of  church  music, 
not  at  first  in  the  production  of  great  works,  but  in 
performance,  criticism,  and  appeal.  It  is  not  to  be  de- 
nied that  a  steady  uplift  in  the  department  of  church 
music  has  been  in  progress  in  Germany  all  through  the 
nineteenth   century.     The   transition    from   rationalism 

320 


JOHANN  SEBASTIAN  BACH 

and  infidelity  to  a  new  and  higher  phase  of  evangelical 
religion  effected  under  the  lead  of  Schleiermacher,  the 
renewed  interest  in  church  history,  the  effort  to  bring 
the  forms  of  worship  into  cooperation  with  a  quickened 
spiritual  life,  the  revival  of  the  study  of  the  great  works 
of  German  art  as  related  to  national  intellectual  de- 
velopment, —  these  influences  and  many  more  have 
strongly  stirred  the  cause  of  church  music  both  in 
composition  and  performance.  Choirs  have  been  en- 
larged and  strengthened ;  the  soprano  and  alto  parts 
are  still  exclusively  sung  by  boys,  but  the  tenor 
and  bass  parts  are  taken  by  mature  and  thoroughly 
trained  men,  instead  of  by  raw  youths,  as  in  Bach's 
time  and  after.  In  such  choirs  as  those  of  the  Berlin 
cathedral  and  the  Leipsic  Thomas  church,  artistic  sing- 
ing attains  a  richness  of  tone  and  finish  of  style  hardly 
to  be  surpassed. 

The  most  wholesome  result  of  these  movements  has 
been  to  bring  about  a  clearer  distinction  in  the  minds  of 
churchmen  between  a  proper  church  style  in  music  and 
the  concert  style.  Church-music  associations  (evange- 
lische  Kirchengesang-Vereine),  analogous  to  the  Catholic 
St.  Cecilia  Society,  have  taken  in  hand  the  question  of 
the  establishment  of  church  music  on  a  more  strict  and 
efficient  basis.  Such  masters  as  Mendelssohn,  Richter, 
Hauptmann,  Kiel,  and  Grell  liave  produced  works  of 
great  beauty,  and  at  the  same  time  admirably  suited  to 
the  ideal  requirements  of  public  worsliip. 

In  spite  of  tlie  present  more  healthful  condition  of 
Oerman  Evangelical  music  as  compared  with  the  feeble- 
ness and  indefiniteness  of  the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth 
21  321 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

century,  there  is  little  assurance  of  the  restoration  of  this 
branch  of  art  to  the  position  which  it  held  in  the  national 
life  two  hundred  years  ago.  In  the  strict  sense  writers 
of  the  school  of  Spitta  are  correct  in  asserting  that  a 
Protestant  church  music  no  longer  exists,  "  It  must  be 
denied  that  an  independent  branch  of  the  tonal  art  is  to 
be  found  which  has  its  home  only  in  the  Church,  which 
contains  life  and  the  capacity  for  development  in  itself, 
and  in  whose  sphere  the  creative  artist  seeks  his  ideals."  ^ 
On  the  other  hand,  a  hopeful  sign  has  appeared  in  re- 
cent German  musical  history  in  the  foundation  of  the 
New  Bach  Society,  with  headquarters  at  Leipsic,  in  1900. 
The  task  assumed  by  this  society,  which  includes  a  large 
number  of  the  most  eminent  musicians  of  Germany,  is 
that  of  making  Bach's  choral  works  better  known,  and 
especially  of  reintroducing  them  into  their  old  place  in 
the  worship  of  the  Evangelical  churches.  The  success 
of  such  an  effort  would  doubtless  be  fraught  with  im- 
portant consequences,  and  perhaps  inaugurate  a  new  era 
in  the  history  of  German  church  music. 

^  Spitta,    Zur    Musik :    Wiederbelebung  protestantischer    Kirchenmusik 
auf  geschiclUhcher   Grutidlage. 


S?2 


CHAPTER   X 

THE   MUSICAL   SYSTEM   OF   THE   CHURCH   OF   ENGLAND 

The  musical  productions  that  have  emanated  from 
the  Church  of  England  possess  no  such  independent 
interest  as  works  of  art  as  those  which  so  richly  adorn 
the  Catholic  and  the  German  Evangelical  systems. 
With  the  exception  of  the  naturalized  Handel  (whose 
few  occasional  anthems,  Te  Deums,  and  miscellaneous 
church  pieces  give  him  an  incidental  place  in  the  roll  of 
English  ecclesiastical  musicians),  there  is  no  name  to  be 
found  in  connection  with  the  English  cathedral  service 
that  compares  in  lustre  with  those  that  give  such  renown 
to  the  religious  song  of  Italy  and  Germany.  Yet  in 
spite  of  this  mediocrity  of  achievement,  the  music  of  the 
Anglican  Church  has  won  an  honorable  historic  position, 
not  only  by  reason  of  the  creditable  average  of  excellence 
which  it  has  maintained  for  three  hundred  years,  but 
still  more  through  its  close  identification  with  those  fierce 
conflicts  over  dogma,  ritual,  polity,  and  the  relation  of 
the  Church  to  the  individual  which  have  given  such 
a  singular  interest  to  English  ecclesiastical  history. 
Methods  of  musical  expression  have  been  almost  as 
hotly  contested  as  vital  matters  of  doctrine  and  author- 
ity, and  the  result  has  been  that  the  li^nglish  j^ople  look 
upon  their  national  religious  song  with  a  respect  such  as, 

323 


MUSIC  IN   THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

perhaps,  no  other  school  of  church  music  receives  in  its 
own  home.  The  value  and  purpose  of  music  in  worship, 
and  the  manner  of  performance  most  conducive  to  edifi- 
cation, have  been  for  centuries  the  subjects  of  such 
serious  discussion  that  the  problems  propounded  by  the 
history  of  English  church  music  are  of  perennial  inter- 
est. The  dignity,  orderliness,  tranquillity,  and  gracious- 
ness  in  outward  form  and  inward  spirit  which  have 
come  to  distinguish  the  Anglican  Establishment  are 
reflected  in  its  anthems  and  "  services,"  its  chants  and 
hymns  ;  while  the  simplicity  and  sturdy,  aggressive  sin- 
cerity of  the  non-conformist  sects  may  be  felt  in  the 
accents  of  their  psalmody.  The  clash  of  liturgic  and 
non-liturgic  opinions,  conformity  and  independence, 
Anglicanism  and  Puritanism,  may  be  plainly  heard  in 
the  church  musical  history  of  the  sixteenth,  seventeenth, 
and  eighteenth  centuries,  and  even  to-day  the  contest  has 
not  everywhere  been  settled  by  conciliation  and  fraternal 
sympathy. 

The  study  of  English  church  music,  therefore,  is  the 
study  of  musical  forms  and  practices  more  than  of  works 
of  art  as  such.  We  are  met  at  the  outset  by  a  spectacle 
not  paralleled  in  other  Protestant  countries,  viz.,  the 
cleavage  of  the  reformed  Church  into  two  violently  hostile 
divisions ;  and  we  find  the  struggle  for  supremacy 
between  Anglicans  and  Puritans  fought  out  in  the 
sphere  of  art  and  ritual  as  well  as  on  the  battlefield  and 
the  arena  of  theological  polemic.  Consequently  we  are 
obliged  to  trace  two  distinct  lines  of  development  —  the 
ritual  music  of  the  Establishment  and  the  psalmody  of 
the  dissenting  bodies  —  trying  to  discover  how  these  con-- 

824 


THE  MUSICAL   SYSTEM  OF  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND 

tending  principles  acted  upon  each  other,  and  what 
instruction  can  be  drawn  from  their  collision  and  their 
final  compromise. 

The  Reformation  in  England  took  in  many  respects  a 
very  different  course  from  that  upon  the  continent.  In 
Germany,  France,  SAvitzerland,  and  the  Netherlands  the 
revolt  against  Rome  was  initiated  by  men  who  sprung 
from  the  ranks  of  the  people.  Notwithstanding  the  com- 
plication of  motives  which  drew  princes  and  commoners, 
ecclesiastics  and  laymen,  into  the  rebellion,  the  movement 
was  primarily  religious,  first  a  protest  against  abuses,  next 
the  demand  for  free  privileges  in  the  Gospel,  followed  by 
restatements  of  belief  and  the  establishment  of  new  forms 
of  worship.  Political  changes  followed  in  the  train  of 
the  religious  revolution,  because  in  most  instances  there 
was  such  close  alliance  between  the  secular  powers  and 
the  papacy  that  allegiance  to  the  former  was  not  compat- 
ible with  resistance  to  the  latter. 

In  England  this  process  was  reversed;  political  sepa- 
ration preceded  the  religious  changes  ;  it  was  the  alliance 
between  the  government  and  the  papacy  that  was  first  to 
break.  The  emancipation  from  the  supremacy  of  Rome 
was  accomplished  at  a  single  stroke  by  the  crown  itself, 
and  that  not  upon  moral  grounds  or  doctrinal  disagree- 
ment, but  solely  for  political  advantage.  In  spite  of 
tokens  of  spiritual  unrest,  there  was  no  sign  of  a  dispo- 
sition on  the  part  of  any  considerable  number  of  the 
English  people  to  sever  their  fealty  to  the  Church  of 
Rome  when,  in  1534,  Henry  VIII.  issued  a  royal  edict 
repudiating  the  papal  authority,  and  a  submissive  Parlia- 
ment decreed   that  "the  king,  our  sovereign  lord,  his 

325 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

heirs  and  successors,  kings  of  this  realm,  shall  be  taken, 
accepted,  and  reputed  the  only  supreme  head  in  earth  of 
the  Church  of  England."  The  English  Church  became  in 
a  day  what  it  had  often  shown  a  desire  to  become  —  a 
national  Church,  free  from  the  arbitrary  autliority  of  an 
Italian  overloi-dship,  the  king  instead  of  the  pope  at  its 
head,  with  supreme  power  in  all  matters  of  appointment 
and  discipline,  possessing  even  the  prerogative  of  deciding 
what  should  be  the  religious  beUef  and  manner  of  wor- 
ship in  the  realm.  No  doctrinal  change  was  involved  in 
this  proceeding  ;  there  was  no  implied  admission  of  free- 
dom of  conscience  or  religious  toleration.  The  mediaeval 
conception  of  the  necessity  of  religious  unanimity  among 
all  the  subjects  of  the  state  —  one  single  state  Church 
maintained  in  ever}'  precept  and  ordinance  by  the  power 
of  the  throne  —  was  rigorously  reasserted.  The  English 
Church  had  simply  exchanged  one  master  for  another, 
and  had  gained  a  spiritual  tyranny  to  which  were  attached 
no  conceptions  of  right  drawn  from  ancestral  association 
or  historic  tradition. 

The  immediate  occasion  for  this  action  on  the  part  of 
Henry  VIII,  was,  as  all  know,  his  exasperation  against 
Clement  VII.  on  account  of  that  pope's  refusal  to  sanction 
the  king's  iniquitous  scheme  of  a  divorce  from  his  faith- 
ful wife  Catherine  and  a  marriage  with  Anne  Boleyn. 
This  grievance  was  doubtless  a  mere  pretext,  for  a 
temper  so  imperious  as  that  of  Henry  could  not  perma- 
nently brook  a  divided  loyalty  in  his  kingdom.  But 
since  Henry  took  occasion  to  proclaim  anew  the  funda- 
mental dogmas  of  the  Catholic  Church,  with  the  old 
bloody  penalties  against  heresy,  it  would  not  be  proper 

326 


THE   MUSICAL   SYSTEM  OF  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND 

to  speak  of  him  as  the  originator  of  the  Reformation  in 
England.  That  event  properly  dates  from  the  reign  of 
his  successor,  Edward  VI. 

It  was  not  possible,  however,  that  in  breaking  the 
ties  of  hierarchical  authority  which  had  endured  for  a 
thousand  years  the  English  Church  should  not  undergo 
further  change.  England  had  always  been  a  more  or 
less  refractory  child  of  the  Roman  Church,  and  more  than 
once  the  conception  of  royal  prerogative  and  national 
right  had  come  into  conflict  with  the  pretensions  of  the 
papacy,  and  the  latter  had  not  always  emerged  victorious 
from  the  struggle.  The  old  Germanic  spirit  of  liberty 
and  individual  determination,  always  especially  strong  in 
England,  was  certain  to  assert  itself  when  the  great 
European  intellectual  awakening  of  the  fourteenth  and 
fifteenth  centuries  had  taken  hold  of  the  mass  of  the 
people ;  and  it  might  have  been  foreseen  after  Luther's 
revolt  that  England  would  soon  throw  herself  into  the 
arms  of  the  Reformation.  The  teachings  of  Wiclif  and 
the  Lollards  were  still  cherished  at  many  English  fire- 
sides. Humanistic  studies  had  begun  to  flourish  under 
the  auspices  of  such  men  as  Erasmus,  Colet,  and  More, 
and  humanism,  as  the  natural  foe  of  superstition  and 
obscurantism,  was  instinctively  set  against  ecclesiastical 
assumption.  Lastly,  the  trumpet  blast  of  Luther  had 
found  an  echo  in  many  stout  British  hearts.  The  initia- 
tive of  the  crown,  however,  forestalled  events  and 
changed  their  course,  and  instead  of  a  general  rising  of 
the  people,  the  overthrow  of  every  vestige  of  Romanism, 
and  the  creation  of  a  universal  Calvinistic  system,  the 
conservatism  and  moderation  of  Edward  VI.  and  EHzabeth 

327 


MUSIC  IN   THE    WESTERN   CHURCH 

and  their  advisers  retained  so  much  of  external  form  and 
ceremony  in  the  interest  of  dignity,  and  fixed  so  firmly 
the  pillars  of  episcopacy  in  the  interest  of  stability  and 
order,  that  the  kingdom  found  itself  divided  into  two 
parties,  and  the  brief  conflict  between  nationalism  and 
Romanism  was  succeeded  by  the  long  struggle  between 
the  Establishment,  protected  by  the  throne,  and  rampant, 
all-levelling  Puritanism. 

With  the  passage  of  the  Act  of  Supremacy  the  Catholic 
and  Protestant  parties  began  to  align  themselves  for 
conflict.  Henry  VIII.  at  first  showed  himself  favorable 
to  the  Protestants,  inclining  to  the  acceptance  of  the 
Bible  as  final  authority  instead  of  the  decrees  and  tradi- 
tions of  the  Church.  After  the  Catholic  rebellion  of 
1536,  however,  the  king  changed  his  policy,  and  with 
the  passage  of  the  Six  Articles,  which  decreed  the  doc- 
trine of  transubstantiation,  the  celibacy  of  the  clergy, 
the  value  of  private  masses,  and  the  necessity  of  auricular 
confession,  he  began  a  bloody  persecution  which  ended 
only  with  his  death. 

The  boy  king,  Edward  VI.,  who  reigned  from  1547  to 
1553,  had  been  won  over  to  Protestantism  by  Archbishop 
Cranmer,  and  with  his  accession  reforms  in  doctrine  and 
ritual  went  on  rapidly.  Parliament  was  again  subser- 
vient, and  a  modified  Lutheranism  took  possession  of  the 
English  Church.  The  people  were  taught  from  the  Eng- 
lish Bible,  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  took  the  place 
of  Missal  and  Breviary ;  the  Mass,  compulsory  celibacy 
of  the  clergy,  and  worship  of  images  were  abolished,  and 
invocation  of  saints  forbidden.  We  must  observe  that 
these  changes,  like  those  effected  by  Henry  VIII.,  were 

328 


THE  MUSICAL  SYSTEM  OF  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND 

not  brought  about  by  popular  pressure  under  the  leader- 
ship of  great  tribunes,  but  were  decreed  by  the  rulers  of 
the  state,  ratified  by  Parliament  under  due  process  of 
law,  and  enforced  by  the  crown  under  sanction  of  the 
Act  of  Supremacy.  The  revolution  was  regular,  peace- 
ful, and  legal,  and  none  of  the  savage  conflicts  between 
Catholics  and  Protestants  which  tore  Germany,  France, 
and  the  Netherlands  in  pieces  and  drenched  their  soil 
with  blood,  ever  occurred  in  England,  Amid  such  con- 
ditions reaction  was  easy.  Under  Mary  (1553-1558) 
the  old  religion  and  forms  were  reenacted,  and  a  perse- 
cution, memorable  for  the  martyrdoms  of  Cranmer, 
Ridley,  Latimer,  Hooper,  and  other  leaders  of  the  Prot- 
estant party,  was  carried  on  with  ruthless  severity,  but 
without  weakening  the  cause  of  the  reformed  faith. 
Elizabeth  (1558-1603)  had  no  pronounced  religious 
convictions,  but  under  the  stress  of  European  political 
conditions  she  became  of  necessity  a  protector  of  the 
Protestant  cause.  The  reformed  service  was  restored, 
and  from  Elizabeth's  day  the  Church  of  England  has 
rested  securely  upon  the  constitutions  of  Edward  VI. 

With  the  purification  and  restatement  of  doctrine 
according  to  Protestant  principles  was  involved  the 
question  of  the  liturgy.  There  was  no  thought  on  the 
part  of  the  English  reformers  of  complete  separation 
from  the  ancient  communion  and  the  establishment  of 
a  national  Church  upon  an  entirely  new  theory.  They 
held  firmly  to  the  conception  of  historic  Christianity  ; 
the  episcopal  succession  extending  back  to  the  early 
ages  of  the  Church  was  not  broken,  the  administration 
of  the  sacraments  never  ceased.     The  Anglican  Church 

829 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

was  conceived  as  the  successor  of  the  universal  institu- 
tion which,  through  her  apostasy  from  the  pure  doctrine 
of  the  apostles,  had  abrogated  her  claims  upon  the 
allegiance  of  the  faithful.  Anglicanism  contained  in 
itself  a  continuation  of  the  tradition  delivered  to  the 
fathers,  with  an  open  Bible,  and  the  emancipation  of  the 
reason ;  it  was  legitimate  heir  to  what  was  noblest  and 
purest  in  Catholicism.  This  conception  is  strikingly 
manifest  in  the  liturgy  of  the  Church  of  England,  which 
is  partly  composed  of  materials  furnished  by  the  office- 
books  of  the  ancient  Church,  and  in  the  beginning  asso- 
ciated with  music  in  no  way  to  be  distinguished  in  style 
from  the  Catholic.  The  prominence  given  to  vestments, 
and  to  ceremonies  calculated  to  impress  the  senses,  also 
points  unmistakably  to  the  conservative  spirit  which 
forbade  that  the  reform  should  in  any  way  take  on  the 
guise  of  revolution. 

The  ritual  of  the  Church  of  England  is  contained  in 
a  single  volume,  viz.,  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer.  It 
is  divided  into  matins  and  evensong,  the  office  of  Holy 
Communion,  offices  of  confirmation  and  ordination,  and 
occasional  offices.  But  little  of  this  liturgy  is  entirely 
original;  the  matins  and  evensong  are  compiled  from 
the  Catholic  Breviary,  the  Holy  Communion  with  col- 
lects, epistles,  and  gospels  from  the  Missal,  occasional 
offices  from  the  Ritual,  and  the  confirmation  and  ordi- 
nation offices  from  the  Pontifical.  All  these  offices,  as 
compared  with  tlie  Catholic  sources,  are  greatly  modified 
and  simplified.  A  vast  amount  of  legendary  and  un- 
historic  matter  found  in  the  Breviary  has  disappeared, 
litanies  to  and  invocations  of  the  saints  and  the  Virgin 

330 


THE  MUSICAL  SYSTEM  OF  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND 

Mary  have  been  omitted.  The  offices  proper  to  saints' 
days  have  disappeared,  the  seven  canonical  hours  are 
compressed  to  two,  the  space  given  to  selections  from 
Holy  Scripture  greatly  extended,  and  the  English  lan- 
guage takes  the  place  of  Latin. 

In  this  dependence  upon  the  offices  of  the  mother 
Church  for  the  ritual  of  the  new  worship  the  English 
reformers,  like  Martin  Luther,  testified  to  their  convic- 
tion that  they  were  purifiers  and  renovators  of  the 
ancient  faith  and  ceremony,  not  violent  destroyers,  seek- 
ing to  win  the  sympathies  of  their  countrymen  by 
deferring  to  old  associations  and  inherited  prejudices, 
so  far  as  consistent  with  reason  and  conscience.  Their 
sense  of  historic  continuity  is  further  shown  in  the  fact 
that  the  Breviaries  which  they  consulted  were  those 
specially  employed  from  early  times  in  England,  par- 
ticularly the  use  known  as  the  "  Sarum  use,"  drawn 
up  and  promulgated  about  1085  by  Osmund,  bishop  of 
Salisbury,  and  generally  adopted  in  the  south  of  Eng- 
land, and  which  deviated  in  certain  details  from  the 
use  of  Rome. 

Propositions  looking  to  the  amendment  of  the  service- 
books  were  brought  forward  before  the  end  of  the  reign 
of  Henry  VHL,  and  a  beginning  was  made  by  introduc- 
ing the  reading  of  small  portions  of  the  Scripture  in 
English.  The  Litany  was  the  first  of  the  prayers  to 
be  altered  and  set  in  Enghsh,  which  was  done  by 
Cranmer,  who  had  before  him  the  old  litanies  of  the 
English  Church,  besides  the  "  Consultation "  of  Her- 
mann, archbishop  of  Cologne   (1543). 

With  the  accession  of  Edward  VI.  in  1547  the  revo- 

331 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

lution  in  worship  was  thoroughly  confirmed,  and  in 
1549  the  complete  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  essentially 
in  its  modern  form,  was  issued.  A  second  and  modified 
edition  was  published  in  1552  and  ordered  to  be  adopted 
in  all  the  churches  of  the  kingdom.  The  old  Catholic 
office-books  were  called  in  and  destroyed,  the  images 
were  taken  from  the  houses  of  worship,  the  altars 
removed  and  replaced  by  communion  tables,  the  vest> 
ments  of  the  clergy  were  simplified,  and  the  whole 
conception  of  the  service,  as  well  as  its  ceremonies, 
completely  transformed.  Owing  to  the  accession  of 
Mary  in  1553  there  was  no  time  for  the  Prayer  Book 
of  1552  to  come  into  general  use.  A  third  edition, 
somewhat  modified,  published  in  1559,  was  one  of  the 
earliest  results  of  the  accession  of  Elizabeth.  Another 
revision  followed  in  1604  under  James  I. ;  additions 
and  alterations  were  made  under  Charles  II.  in  1661-2. 
Since  that  date  only  very  slight  changes  have  been 
made. 

The  liturgy  of  the  Church  of  England  is  composed, 
like  the  Catholic  liturgy,  of  both  constant  and  variable 
offices,  the  latter,  however,  being  in  a  small  minority. 
It  is  notable  for  the  large  space  given  to  reading  from 
Holy  Scripture,  the  entire  Psalter  being  read  through 
every  month,  the  New  Testament  three  times  a  year, 
and  the  Old  Testament  once  a  year.  It  includes  a 
large  variety  of  prayers,  special  psalms  to  be  sung, 
certain  psalm-like  hymns  called  canticles,  the  hymns 
comprising  the  chief  constant  choral  members  of  the 
Latin  Mass,  viz.^  Kyrie,  Gloria,  Credo,  and  Sanctus  — 
the  Te  Deum,  the  ten  commandments,  a  litany,  besides 

332 


THE  MUSICAL  SYSTEM  OF  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND 

short  sentences  and  responses  known  as  versicles.  In 
addition  to  the  regular  morning  and  evening  worship 
there  are  special  series  of  offices  for  Holy  Communion 
and  for  particular  occasions,  such  as  ordinations,  con- 
firmations, the  burial  service,  etc. 

Although  there  is  but  one  ritual  common  to  all  the 
congregations  of  the  established  Church,  one  form  of 
prayer  and  praise  which  ascends  from  cathedral,  chapel, 
and  parish  church  alike,  this  service  differs  in  respect 
to  the  manner  of  rendering.  The  Anglican  Church 
retained  the  conception  of  the  Catholic  that  the  service 
is  a  musical  service,  that  the  prayers,  as  well  as  the 
psalms,  canticles,  and  hymns,  are  properly  to  be  given 
not  in  the  manner  of  ordinary  speech,  but  in  musical 
tone.  It  was  soon  found,  however,  that  a  full  musical 
service,  designed  for  the  more  conservative  and  wealthy 
establishments,  was  not  practicable  in  small  country 
parishes,  and  so  in  process  of  time  three  modes  of  per- 
forming the  service  were  authorized,  viz.,  the  choral  or 
cathedral  mode,  the  parochial,  and  the  mixed. 

The  choral  service  is  that  used  in  the  cathedrals, 
royal  and  college  chapels,  and  certain  parish  churches 
whose  resources  permit  the  adoption  of  the  same  prac- 
tice. In  this  mode  everything  except  the  lessons  is 
rendered  in  musical  tone,  from  the  monotoned  prayers 
of  the  priest  to  the  figured  chorus  music  of  "service" 
and  anthem.  The  essential  parts  of  the  choral  service, 
as  classified  by  Dr.  Jebb,^  are  as  follows: 

1.  The  chanting  by  the  minister  of  the  sentences, 
exhortations,  prayers,  and  collects  throughout  the   lit- 

*  Jebb,  Choral  Service  of  the  United  Church  0/  England  and  Ireland. 

333 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

urgy   in    a   monotone,    slightly   varied    by    occasional 
modulations. 

2.  The  alternate  chant  of  the  versicles  and  responses 
by  minister  and  choir. 

3.  The  alternate  chant,  by  the  two  divisions  of  the 
choir,  of  the  daily  psalms  and  of  such  as  occur  in  the 
various  offices  of  the  Church. 

4.  The  singing  of  all  the  canticles  and  hymns,  in 
the  morning  and  evening  service,  either  to  an  alter- 
nated chant  or  to  songs  of  a  more  intricate  style,  re- 
sembling anthems  in  their  construction,  and  which  are 
technically  styled  "services." 

5.  The  singing  of  the  anthem  after  the  third  collect 
in  both  morning  and  evening  prayer. 

6.  The  alternate  chanting  of  the  litany  by  the  min- 
ister and  choir. 

7.  The  singing  of  the  responses  after  the  command- 
ments in  the  Communion  service. 

8.  The  singing  of  the  creed,  Gloria  in  excelsis,  and 
Sanctus  in  the  Communion  service  anthem-wise.  [The 
Sanctus  has  in  recent  years  been  superseded  by  a  short 
anthem  or  hymn.] 

9.  The  chanting  or  singing  of  those  parts  in  the 
occasional  offices  which  are  rubrically  permitted  to  be 
sung. 

In  this  manner  of  worship  the  Church  of  England 
conforms  to  the  general  usage  of  liturgic  churches 
throughout  the  world  in  ancient  and  modern  times,  by 
implication  honoring  that  conception  of  the  intimate 
union  of  word  and  tone  in  formal  authorized  worship 
which   has   been   expounded    in   the   chapters   on   the 

334 


THE  MUSICAL   SYSTEM  OF  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND 

Catholic  music  and  ritual.  Since  services  are  held  on 
week  days  as  well  as  on  Sundays  in  the  cathedrals,  and 
since  there  are  two  full  choral  services,  each  involving 
an  almost  unbroken  current  of  song  from  clergy  and 
choir,  this  usage  involves  a  large  and  thoroughly 
trained  establishment,  which  is  made  possible  by  the 
endowments  of  the  English  cathedrals. 

The  parochial  service  is  that  used  in  the  smaller 
churches  where  it  is  not  possible  to  maintain  an 
endowed  choir.  "According  to  this  mode  the  acces- 
sories of  divine  service  necessary  towards  its  due 
performance  are  but  few  and  simple."  "As  to  the 
ministers,  the  stated  requirements  of  each  parochial 
church  usually  contemplate  but  one,  the  assistant 
clergy  and  members  of  choirs  being  rarely  objects  of 
permanent  endowment."  "As  to  the  mode  of  perform- 
ing divine  service,  the  strict  parochial  mode  consists  in 
reciting  all  parts  of  the  liturgy  in  the  speaking  tone  of 
the  voice  unaccompanied  by  music.  According  to  this 
mode  no  chant,  or  canticle,  or  anthem,  properly  so 
called,  is  employed ;  but  metrical  versions  of  the 
psalms  are  sung  at  certain  intervals  between  the  vari- 
ous offices."     (Jebb.) 

This  mode  is  not  older  than  1549,  for  until  the 
Reformation  the  Plain  Chant  was  used  in  parish 
churches.  The  singing  of  metrical  psalms  dates  from 
the  reign  of  Elizabeth. 

The  mixed  mode  is  less  simple  than  the  parochial ; 
parts  of  the  service  are  sung  by  a  choir,  but  the  prayers, 
creeds,  litany,  and  responses  are  recited  in  speaking 
voice.     It  may  be  said,  however,  that  the  parochial  and 

335 


MUSIC  IN   THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

the  mixed  modes  are  optional  and  permitted  as  matters 
of  convenience.  There  is  no  law  that  forbids  any 
congregation  to  adopt  any  portion  or  even  the  whole  of 
the  choral  mode.  In  these  variations,  to  which  we  find 
nothing  similar  in  the  Catholic  Church,  may  be  seen 
the  readiness  of  the  fathers  of  the  Anglican  Church  to 
compromise  with  Puritan  tendencies  and  guard  against 
those  reactions  which,  as  later  history  shows,  are  con- 
stantly urging  sections  of  the  English  Church  back  to 
extreme  ritualistic  practices. 

The  music  of  the  Anglican  Church  follows  the  three 
divisions  into  which  church  music  in  general  may  be 
separated,  viz.,  the  cliant,  the  figured  music  of  the 
choir,  and  the  congregational  hymn. 

The  history  of  the  Anglican  chant  may  also  be  taken 
to  symbolize  the  submerging  of  the  ancient  priestly 
idea  in  the  representative  conception  of  the  clerical 
office,  for  the  chant  has  proved  itself  a  very  flexible 
form  of  expression,  both  in  structure  and  usage, 
endeavoring  to  connect  itself  sometimes  with  the 
anthem-like  choir  song  and  again  with  the  congrega- 
tional hymn.  In  the  beginning,  however,  the  method 
of  chanting  exactly  followed  the  Catholic  form.  Two 
kinds  of  chant  were  employed,  —  the  simple  unaccom- 
panied Plain  Song  of  the  minister,  which  is  almost  mono- 
tone ;  and  the  accompanied  chant,  more  melodious  and 
florid,  employed  in  the  singing  of  the  psalms,  canticles, 
litany,  etc.,  by  the  choir  or  by  the  minister  and  choir. 

The  substitution  of  English  for  Latin  and  the 
sweeping  modification  of  the  liturgy  did  not  in  the 
least  alter  the  system  and  principle  of  musical  render- 

336 


THE  MUSICAL  SYSTEM  OF  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND 

ing  which  had  existed  in  the  Catholic  Church.  The 
litany,  the  oldest  portion  of  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer,  compiled  by  Cranmer  and  published  in  1544, 
was  set  for  singing  note  for  note  from  the  ancient  Plain 
Song.  In  1550  a  musical  setting  was  given  to  all  parts 
of  the  Prayer  Book  by  John  Marbecke,  a  well-known 
musician  of  that  period.  He,  like  Cranmer,  adapted 
portions  of  the  old  Gregorian  chant,  using  only  the 
plainer  forms.  In  Marbecke's  book  we  find  the  sim- 
plest style,  consisting  of  monotone,  employed  for  the 
prayers  and  the  Apostles'  Creed,  a  larger  use  of  modu- 
lation in  the  recitation  of  the  psalms,  and  a  still  more 
song-like  manner  in  the  canticles  and  those  portions, 
such  as  the  Kyrie  and  Gloria,  taken  from  the  mass. 
To  how  great  an  extent  this  music  of  Marbecke  was 
employed  in  the  Anglican  Church  in  the  sixteenth 
century  is  not  certainly  known.  Certain  parts  of  it 
gave  way  to  the  growing  fondness  for  harmonized  and 
figured  music  in  all  parts  of  the  service,  but  so  far  as 
Plain  Chant  has  been  retained  in  the  cathedral  service 
the  setting  of  Marbecke  has  established  the  essential 
form  down  to  the  present  day.^ 

The  most  marked  distinction  between  the  choral 
mode  of  performing  the  service,  and  those  divergent 
usages  which  have  often  been  conceived  as  a  protest 
against  it,  consists  in  the  practice  of  singing  or  mono- 
toning the  prayers  by  the  minister.  The  notion  of 
impersonality  which  underlies  the  liturgic  conception 
of  worship  everywhere,  the  merging  of  the  individual 

^  An  edition   of   Marbecke's  Book  of   Common  Prayer  with  Notes, 
edited  by  Kimbault,  was  published  by  Novello,  London,  iu  1845. 
22  337 


MUSIC  IN  THM    WESTERN  CHVRCtt 

in  an  abstract,  idealized,  comprehensive  entity  —  the 
Church  —  is  symbolized  in  this  custom.  Notwith- 
standing the  fact  that  the  large  majority  of  congrega- 
tional hymns  are  really  prayers,  and  that  in  this  case 
the  offering  of  prayer  in  metrical  form  and  in  musical 
strains  has  always  been  admitted  by  all  ranks  of  Chris- 
tians as  perfectly  appropriate,  yet  there  has  always 
seemed  to  a  large  number  of  English  Protestants  some- 
thing artificial  and  even  irreverent  in  the  delivery  of 
prayer  in  an  unchanging  musical  note,  in  which  ex- 
pression is  lost  in  the  abandonment  of  the  natural 
inflections  of  speech.  Here  is  probably  the  cause  of 
the  repugnant  impression,  —  not  because  the  utterance 
is  musical  in  tone,  but  because  it  is  monotonous  and 
unexpressive. 

It  is  of  interest  to  note  the  reasons  for  this  practice 
as  given  by  representative  English  churchmen,  since 
the  motive  for  the  usage  touches  the  very  spirit  and 
significance  of  a  ritualistic  form  of  worship. 

Dr.  Bisse,  in  his  Rationale  on  Cathedral  Worship^ 
justifies  the  practice  on  the  ground  (1)  of  necessity, 
since  the  great  size  of  the  cathedral  churches  obliges 
the  minister  to  use  a  kind  of  tone  that  can  be  heard 
throughout  the  building;  (2)  of  uniformity,  in  order 
that  the  voices  of  the  congregation  may  not  jostle  and 
confuse  each  other;  and  (3)  of  the  advantage  in  pre- 
venting imperfections  and  inequalities  of  pronunciation 
on  the  part  of  both  minister  and  people.  Other  reasons 
which  are  more  mystical,  and  probably  on  that  account 
still  more  cogent  to  the  mind  of  the  ritualist,  are  also 
given  by  this  writer.     "It  is  emblematic,"  he  says,  "of 

338 


THE  MUSICAL  SYSTEM  OF  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND 

the  delight  which  Christians  have  in  the  law  of  God. 
It  bespeaks  the  cheerfulness  of  our  Christian  profes- 
sion, as  contrasted  with  that  of  the  Gentiles.  It  gives 
to  divine  worship  a  greater  dignity  by  separating  it 
more  from  all  actions  and  interlocutions  that  are  com- 
mon and  familiar.  It  is  more  efficacious  to  awaken  the 
attention,  to  stir  up  the  affections,  and  to  edify  the 
understanding  than  plain  reading."  And  Dr.  Jebb 
puts  the  case  still  more  definitely  when  he  says:  "In 
the  Church  of  England  the  lessons  are  not  chanted, 
but  read.  The  instinctive  good  taste  of  the  revisers 
of  the  liturgy  taught  them  that  the  lessons,  being  nar- 
ratives, orations,  records  of  appeals  to  men,  or  writings 
of  an  epistolary  character,  require  that  method  of 
reading  which  should  be,  within  due  bounds,  imitative. 
But  with  the  prayers  the  case  is  far  different.  These 
are  uttered  by  the  minister  of  God,  not  as  an  indi- 
vidual, but  as  the  instrument  and  channel  of  petitions 
which  are  of  perpetual  obligation,  supplications  for  all 
those  gifts  of  God's  grace  which  are  needful  for  all 
mankind  while  this  frame  of  things  shall  last.  The 
prayers  are  not,  like  the  psalms  and  canticles,  the  ex- 
pression, the  imitation,  or  the  record  of  the  hopes  and 
fears,  of  the  varying  sentiments,  of  the  impassioned 
thanksgivings,  of  the  meditative  musings  of  inspired 
individuals,  or  of  holy  companies  of  men  or  angels; 
they  are  tlie  unchangeable  voice  of  the  Church  of  (iod, 
seeking  through  one  eternal  Redeemer  gifts  that  shall 
be  for  everlasting.  And  hence  the  uniformity  of  tone 
in  which  she  seeks  them  is  significant  of  the  unity  of 
spirit  which  teaches  the  Church  universal  so  to  pray, 

339 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

of  the  unity  of  means  by  which  her  prayers  are  made 
available,  of  the  perfect  unity  with  God  her  Father 
which  shall  be  her  destiny  in  the  world  to  come." 

The  word  "chant"  as  used  in  the  English  Church  (to 
be  in  strictness  distinguished  from  the  priestly  mono- 
toning) signifies  the  short  melodies  which  are  sung  to 
the  psalms  and  canticles.  The  origin  of  the  Anglican 
chant  system  is  to  be  found  in  the  ancient  Gregorian 
chant,  of  which  it  is  only  a  slight  modification.  It  is 
a  sort  of  musically  delivered  speech,  the  punctuation 
and  rate  of  movement  being  theoretically  the  same  as 
in  spoken  discourse.  Of  all  the  forms  of  religious 
music  the  chant  is  least  susceptible  to  change  and  pro- 
gress, and  the  modern  Anglican  chant  bears  the  plainest 
marks  of  its  mediaeval  origin.  The  modifications  which 
distinguish  the  new  from  the  old  may  easily  be  seen 
upon  comparing  a  modern  English  chant-book  with  an 
office-book  of  the  Catholic  Church.  In  place  of  the 
rhythmic  freedom  of  the  Gregorian,  with  its  frequent 
florid  passages  upon  a  single  syllable,  we  find  in  the 
Anglican  a  much  greater  simplicity  and  strictness,  and 
also,  it  must  be  admitted,  a  much  greater  melodic 
monotony  and  dryness.  The  English  chant  is  almost 
entirely  syllabic,  even  two  notes  to  a  syllable  are  rare, 
while  there  is  nothing  remotely  corresponding  to  the 
melismas  of  the  Catholic  liturgic  song.  The  bar  lines, 
unknown  in  the  Roman  chant,  give  the  English  form 
much  greater  steadiness  of  movement.  The  intonation 
of  the  Gregorian  chant  has  been  dropped,  the  remain- 
ing four  divisions  —  recitation,  mediation,  second  reci- 
tation, and  ending  —  retained.     The  Anglican  chant  is 

340 


THE  MUSICAL   SYSTEM  OF  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND 

of  two  kinds,  single  and  double.  A  single  chant  com- 
prises one  verse  of  a  psalm;  it  consists  of  two  melodic 
strains,  the  first  including  three  measures,  the  second 
four.  A  double  chant  is  twice  the  length  of  a  single 
chant,  and  includes  two  verses  of  a  psalm,  the  first 
ending  being  an  incomplete  cadence.  The  double 
chant  is  an  English  invention;  it  is  unknown  in  the 
Gregorian  system.  The  objections  to  it  are  obvious, 
since  the  two  verses  of  a  psalm  which  may  be  comprised 
in  the  chant  often  differ  in  sentiment. 

The  manner  of  fitting  the  words  to  the  notes  of  the 
chant  is  called  "pointing."  There  is  no  authoritative 
method  of  pointing  in  the  Church  of  England,  and 
there  is  great  disagreement  and  controversy  on  the  sub- 
ject in  the  large  number  of  chant-books  that  are  used 
in  England  and  America.  In  the  cathedral  service  the 
chants  are  sung  antiphonally,  the  two  divisions  of  the 
chorus  answering  each  other  from  opposite  sides  of 
the  choir. 

There  are  large  numbers  of  so-called  chants  which 
are  more  properly  to  be  called  hymns  or  anthems  in 
chant  style,  such  as  the  melodies  sometimes  sung  to  the 
Te  Deum  and  the  Gloria  in  excelsis.  These  composi- 
tions may  consist  of  any  number  of  divisions,  each 
comprising  the  three-measure  and  four-measure  mem- 
bers found  in  the  single  chant. 

The  modern  Anglican  chant  form  is  not  so  old  as 
commonly  supposed.  The  ancient  Gregorian  chants 
for  the  psalms  and  canticles  were  in  universal  use  as 
late  as  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century.  The 
modern  chant  was  of  course  a  gradual  development, 

341 


MUSIC  IN   THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

and  was  the  inevitable  result  of  the  harmonization  of 
the  old  chant  melodies  according  to  the  new  system 
with  its  corresponding  balancing  points  of  tonic  and 
dominant.  A  few  of  the  Anglican  chants  sung  at  the 
present  day  go  back  to  the  time  of  the  Restoration, 
that  is,  soon  after  1660 ;  the  larger  number  date  from 
the  eighteenth  and  nineteenth  centuries.  The  modern 
chant,  however,  has  never  been  able  entirely  to  sup- 
plant the  ancient  Plain  Song  melody.  The  "Grego- 
rian "  movement  in  the  Church  of  England,  one  of  the 
results  of  the  ritualistic  reaction  inaugurated  by  the 
Oxford  Tractarian  agitation,  although  bitterly  opposed 
both  on  musical  grounds  and  perhaps  still  more  through 
alarm  over  the  tendencies  which  it  symbolizes,  has 
apparently  become  firmly  established;  and  even  in 
quarters  where  there  is  little  sympathy  with  the  ritual- 
istic movement,  musical  and  ecclesiastical  conservatism 
unites  with  a  natural  reverence  for  the  historic  past  to 
preserve  in  constant  use  the  venerated  relics  of  early 
days.  Sir  John  Stainer  voiced  the  sentiment  of  many 
leading  English  musical  churchmen  when  he  said:  "I 
feel  very  strongly  that  the  beautiful  Plain  Song 
vei-sicles,  responses,  inflections,  and  prefaces  to  our 
prayers  and  liturgy  should  not  be  lightly  thrown  aside. 
These  simple  and  grand  specimens  of  Plain  Song,  so 
suited  to  their  purpose,  so  reverent  in  their  subdued 
emotion,  appeal  to  us  for  their  protection.  The  Plain 
Song  of  the  prefaces  of  our  liturgy  as  sung  now  in  St. 
Paul's  cathedral  are  note  for  note  the  same  that  rang  at 
least  eight  hundred  years  ago  through  the  vaulted  roof 
of  that  ancient  cathedral  which  crowned  the  summit  of 

342 


THE  MUSICAL   SYSTEM  OF  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND 

the  fortified  hill  of  old  Salisbury.  Not  a  stone  remains 
of  wall  or  shrine,  but  the  old  Sarum  office-books  have 
survived,  from  which  we  can  draw  ancient  hymns  and 
Plain  Song  as  from  a  pure  fount.  Those  devout  monks 
r  •corded  all  their  beautiful  offices  and  the  music  of 
these  offices,  because  they  were  even  then  venerable  and 
venerated.  Shall  we  throw  them  into  the  fire  to  make 
room  for  neat  and  appropriate  excogitations,  fresh  from 
the  blotting-pad  of  Mr.  A,  or  Dr.  B,  or  the  Reverend 
C,  or  Miss  D  ?  " 

It  must  be  acknowledged,  however,  that  the  Grego- 
rian chant  melodies  undergo  decided  modification  in 
spirit  and  impression  when  set  to  English  words.  In 
their  pure  state  their  strains  are  thoroughly  conformed 
to  the  structure  and  flow  of  the  Latin  texts  from  which 
they  grew.  There  is  something  besides  tradition  and 
association  that  makes  them  appear  somewhat  forced 
and  ill  at  ease  when  wedded  to  a  modern  language. 
As  Curwen  says:  "In  its  true  form  the  Gregorian 
chant  has  no  bars  or  measures ;  the  time  and  the  accent 
are  verbal,  not  musical.  Each  note  of  the  mediation 
or  the  ending  is  emphatic  or  non-emphatic,  according 
to  the  word  or  syllable  to  which  it  happens  to  be  sung. 
The  endings  which  follow  the  recitation  do  not  fall 
into  musical  measures,  but  are  as  unrhythmical  as  the 
reciting  tone  itself.  Modern  music,  and  the  instinctive 
observance  of  rhythm  which  is  an  essential  part  of  it, 
have  modified  the  old  chant  and  given  it  accent  and 
time.  The  reason  why  the  attempt  to  adapt  the  Grego- 
rian tones  to  the  English  language  has  resulted  in  their 
modification  is  not  far  to  seek.     The  non-accented  sys- 

343 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN   CHURCH 

tem  suits  Latin  and  French,  but  not  English.  Aside 
from  the  instinct  for  time,  and  the  desire  to  make  a 
'  tune '  of  the  chant,  which  is  a  part  of  human  nature, 
it  is  a  feature  of  the  English  language  that  in  speaking 
we  pass  from  accent  to  accent  and  elide  the  intervening 
syllables.  The  first  attempts  to  adapt  the  Gregorian 
tones  to  English  use  proceeded  strictly  upon  the  plan 
of  one  syllable  to  a  note.  Of  however  many  notes  the 
mediation  or  cadence  of  the  chant  consisted,  that  num- 
ber of  syllables  was  marked  off  from  the  end  of  each 
half-verse,  and  the  recitation  ended  when  they  were 
reached. "  ^  The  attempt  to  sing  in  this  fashion, 
Curwen  goes  on  to  show,  resulted  in  the  greatest 
violence  to  English  pronunciation.  In  order  to  avoid 
this,  slurs,  which  are  no  part  of  the  Gregorian  system 
proper,  were  employed  to  bring  the  accented  syllables 
upon  the  first  of  the  measure. 

Doubtless  the  fundamental  and  certainly  praise- 
worthy motive  of  those  who  strongly  desire  to  reintro- 
duce the  Gregorian  melodies  into  the  Anglican  service 
is  to  establish  once  for  all  a  body  of  liturgic  tones 
which  are  pure,  noble,  and  eminently  fitting  in  character, 
endowed  at  the  same  time  with  venerable  ecclesiastical 
associations  which  shall  become  fixed  and  authoritative, 
and  thus  an  insurmountable  barrier  against  the  intru- 
sion of  the  ephemeral  novelties  of  "  the  Reverend  C  and 
Miss  D."  Every  intelligent  student  of  religious  art 
may  well  say  Amen  to  such  a  desire.  As  the  case  now 
stands  there  is  no  law  or  custom  that  prevents  any 
minister  or   cantor  from   introducing  into  the  service 

*  Curwen,  Studies  in  Worship  Music. 
344 


THE  MUSICAL   SYSTEM   OF  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND 

any  chant-tune  which  he  chooses  to  invent  or  adopt. 
Neither  is  there  any  authority  that  has  the  right  to 
select  any  system  or  body  of  liturgic  song  and  compel 
its  introduction.  The  Gregorian  movement  is  an 
attempt  to  remedy  this  palpable  defect  in  the  Anglican 
musical  system.  It  is  evident  that  this  particular  solu- 
tion of  the  difficulty  can  never  generally  prevail.  Any 
effort,  however,  which  tends  to  restrict  the  number  of 
chants  in  use,  and  establish  once  for  all  a  store  of 
liturgic  melodies  which  is  preeminently  worthy  of  the 
historic  associations  and  the  conservative  aims  of  the 
Anglican  Church,  should  receive  the  hearty  support  of 
English  musicians  and  churchmen. 

If  Marbecke's  unison  chants  were  intended  as  a  com- 
plete scheme  for  the  musical  service,  they  were  at  any 
rate  quickly  swallowed  up  by  the  universal  demand  for 
harmonized  music,  and  the  choral  service  of  the  Church 
of  England  very  soon  settled  into  the  twofold  classifica- 
tion which  now  prevails,  viz.^  the  harmonized  chant  and 
the  more  elaborate  figured  setting  of  "  service "  and 
anthem.  The  former  dates  from  1560,  when  John  Day's 
psalter  was  published,  containing  three  and  four-part  set- 
tings of  old  Plain  Song  melodies,  contributed  by  Tallis, 
Shepherd,  and  other  prominent  musicians  of  the  time. 
From  the  very  outset  of  the  adoption  of  the  vernacular 
in  all  parts  of  the  service,  that  is  to  say  from  the  reign 
of  Edwa]"d  VI.,  certiiin  selected  psalms  and  canticles, 
technically  known  as  "  services,"  were  sung  anthem- wise 
in  the  developed  choral  style  of  the  highest  musical 
science  of  the  day.  The  components  of  the  "  sei-vice  " 
are  to  be  distinguished  from  the  daily  psalms  which  are 

345 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

always  sung  in  antiphonal  chant  form,  and  may  be  said 
to  correspond  to  the  choral  unvarying  portions  of  the 
Catholic  Mass.  The  "  service "  in  its  fullest  form  in- 
cludes the  Venite  (Ps.  xcv.),  Te  Deum,  Benedicite  (Song 
of  the  Three  Children,  from  the  Greek  continuation  of 
the  book  of  Daniel),  Benedictus  (Song  of  Zacharias), 
Jubilate  (Ps.  c),  Kyrie  eleison,  Nicene  Creed,  Sanctus, 
Gloria  in  excelsis,  Magnificat  (Song  of  Mary),  Cantate 
Domino  (Ps.  xcviii.).  Nunc  dimittis  (Song  of  Simeon),  and 
the  Deus  Misereatur  (Ps.  Ixvii).  Of  these  the  Venite, 
Benedicite,  and  the  Sanctus  have  in  recent  times  fallen 
out.  These  psalms  and  canticles  are  divided  between 
the  morning  and  evening  worship,  and  not  all  of  them 
are  obligatory. 

The  "  service,"  in  respect  to  musical  style,  has  moved 
step  by  step  with  the  anthem,  from  the  strict  contrapun- 
tal style  of  the  sixteenth  century,  to  that  of  the  present 
with  all  its  splendor  of  harmony  and  orchestral  color. 
It  has  engaged  the  constant  attention  of  the  multitude 
of  English  church  composers,  and  it  has  more  than 
rivalled  the  anthem  in  the  zealous  regard  of  the  most 
eminent  musicians,  from  the  time  of  Tallis  and  Gibbons 
to  the  present  day. 

The  anthem,  although  an  almost  exact  parallel  to  the 
"  service  "  in  musical  construction,  stands  apart,  liturgi- 
cally,  from  the  rest  of  the  service  in  the  Church  of 
England,  in  that  while  all  the  other  portions  are  laid 
down  in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  the  words  of  the 
anthem  are  not  prescribed.  The  Prayer  Book  merely 
says  after  the  third  collect,  "  In  quires  and  places  where 
they    sing  here    folio weth    the   anthem."      What    tho 

34« 


THE  MUSICAL   SYSTEM  OF  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND 

anthem  shall  be  at  any  particular  service  is  left  to  the 
determination  of  the  choir  master,  but  it  is  commonly 
understood,  and  in  some  dioceses  is  so  decreed,  that  the 
words  of  the  anthem  shall  be  taken  from  the  Scripture 
or  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer.  This  precept,  how- 
ever, is  frequently  transgressed,  and  many  anthems  have 
been  written  to  words  of  metrical  hymns.  The  restric- 
tion of  the  anthem  texts  to  selections  from  the  Bible 
or  the  liturgy  is  designed  to  exclude  words  that  are 
unfamiliar  to  the  people  or  unauthorized  by  ecclesiastical 
authority.  Even  with  these  limitations  the  freedom  of 
choice  on  the  part  of  the  musical  director  serves  to  with- 
draw the  anthem  from  that  vital  organic  connection  with 
the  liturgy  held  by  the  "  service,"  and  it  is  not  infre- 
quently omitted  from  the  daily  office  altogether.  The 
object  of  the  fathers  of  the  Church  of  England  in  admit- 
ting so  exceptional  a  musical  composition  into  the  ser- 
vice was  undoubtedly  to  give  the  worship  more  variety, 
and  to  relieve  the  fatigue  that  would  otherwise  result 
from  a  long  unbroken  series  of  prayers. 

The  anthem,  although  the  legitimate  successor  of  the 
Latin  motet,  has  taken  in  Engknd  a  special  and  peculiar 
form.  According  to  its  derivation  (from  ant-hymn, 
responsive  or  alternate  song)  the  word  anthem  was  at 
first  synonymous  with  antiphony.  The  modern  form, 
succeeding  the  ancient  choral  motet,  dates  from  about 
the  time  of  Henry  Purcell  (1658-1695).  Tlie  style  was 
confirmed  by  Handel,  who  in  his  celebrated  Chandos 
anthems  first  brought  the  English  anthem  into  European 
recognition.  The  anthem  in  its  present  shape  is  a  sort 
of  mixture  of  the  ancient  motet  and  the  German  cantata. 

847 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN   CHURCH 

From  the  motet  it  derives  its  broad  and  artistically  con- 
structed choruses,  while  the  influence  of  the  cantata  is 
seen  in  its  solos  and  instrumental  accompaniment.  As 
the  modern  anthem  is  free  and  ornate,  giving  practically 
unlimited  scope  for  musical  invention,  it  has  been  culti- 
vated with  peculiar  ardor  by  the  English  church  com- 
posers, and  the  number  of  anthems  of  varying  degrees 
of  merit  or  demerit  which  have  been  produced  in  Eng- 
land would  baffle  the  wildest  estimate.  This  style  of 
music  has  been  largely  adopted  in  the  churches  of 
America,  and  American  composers  have  imitated  it, 
often  with  brilliant  success. 

The  form  of  anthem  in  which  the  entire  body  of 
singers  is  employed  from  beginning  to  end  is  techni- 
cally known  as  the  "  full "  anthem.  In  another  form, 
called  the  "  verse "  anthem,  portions  are  sung  by  se- 
lected voices.  A  "  solo  "  anthem  contains  passages  for 
a  single  voice. 

The  anthem  of  the  Church  of  England  has  been  more 
or  less  affected  by  the  currents  of  secular  music,  but  to 
a  much  slighter  extent  than  the  Catholic  mass.  The 
opera  has  never  taken  the  commanding  position  in  Eng- 
land which  it  has  held  in  the  Catholic  countries,  and 
onl}'  in  rare  cases  have  the  English  church  composers, 
at  any  rate  since  the  time  of  Handel,  felt  their  alle- 
giance divided  between  the  claims  of  religion  and  the 
attractions  of  the  stage.  In  periods  of  religious  depres- 
sion or  social  frivolity  the  church  anthem  has  some- 
times become  weak  and  shallow,  but  the  ancient  austere 
traditions  have  never  been  quite  abrogated.  The  natu- 
ral conservatism  of   the    English  people,  especially  in 

348 


THE  MUSICAL   SYSTEM  OF  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND 

matters  of  cliurchly  usage,  and  their  tenacious  grasp 
upon  the  proper  distinction  between  religious  and  pro- 
fane art,  while  acting  to  the  benefit  of  the  anthem  and 
"  service  "  on  the  side  of  dignity  and  appropriateness  in 
style,  have  had  a  correspondingly  unfavorable  influence 
so  far  as  progress  and  sheer  musical  quality  are  con- 
cerned. One  who  reads  through  large  numbers  of  Eng- 
lish church  compositions  cannot  fail  to  be  impressed 
by  their  marked  similarity  in  style  and  the  rarity  of 
features  that  indicate  any  striking  originality.  This 
monotony  and  predominance  of  conventional  common- 
place must  be  largely  attributed,  of  course,  to  the  ab- 
sence of  real  creative  force  in  English  music ;  but  it  is 
also  true  that  even  if  such  creative  genius  existed,  it 
would  hardly  feel  free  to  take  liberties  with  those  strict 
canons  of  taste  which  have  become  embedded  in  the 
unwritten  laws  of  Anglican  musical  procedure.  In 
spite  of  these  limitations  English  church  music  does  not 
wholly  deserve  the  obloquy  that  has  been  cast  upon  it  by 
certain  impatient  critics.  That  it  has  not  rivalled  the 
Catholic  mass,  nor  adopted  the  methods  that  have  trans- 
formed secular  music  in  the  modern  era  is  not  alto- 
gether to  its  discredit.  Leaving  out  the  wonderful 
productions  of  Sebastian  Bach  (which,  by  the  way,  are  no 
longer  heard  in  church  service  in  Germany),  the  music 
of  the  Church  of  England  is  amply  worthy  of  compari- 
son with  that  of  the  German  Evangelical  Church  ;  and  in 
abundance,  musical  value,  and  conformity  to  the  ideals 
which  have  always  governed  public  worship  in  its  noblest 
estate,  it  is  entitled  to  be  ranked  as  one  of  the  four  great 
historic  schools  of  Christian  worship  music. 

349 


MUSIC  IN    THE    WESTERN   CHURCH 

England  had  not  been  lacking  in  eminent  composers 
for  the  Church  before  the  Reformation,  but  their  work 
was  in  the  style  which  then  prevailed  all  over  Europe. 
Some  of  these  writers  could  hold  their  own  with  the 
Netherlanders  in  point  of  learning.  England  held  an 
independent  position  during  "  the  age  of  the  Nether- 
landers "  in  that  the  official  musical  posts  in  the  schools 
and  chapels  were  held  by  native  Englishmen',  and  not, 
as  was  so  largely  the  case  on  the  continent,  by  men  of 
Northern  France  and  Flanders  or  their  pupils.  This 
fact  speaks  much  for  the  inherent  force  of  English  music, 
but  the  conditions  of  musical  culture  at  that  time  did 
not  encourage  any  originality  of  style  or  new  efforts  after 
expression. 

The  continental  development  of  the  polyphonic  school 
to  its  perfection  in  the  sixteenth  century  was  paralleled 
in  England;  and  since  the  English  Reformation  was 
contemporary  with  this  musical  apogee,  the  newly 
founded  national  Church  possessed  in  such  men  as  Tallis, 
Byrd,  Tye,  Gibbons,  and  others  only  less  conspicuous, 
a  group  of  composers  not  unworthy  to  stand  beside 
Palestrina  and  Lassus.  It  is  indeed  good  fortune  for  the 
Church  of  England  that  its  musical  traditions  have  been 
founded  by  such  men.  Thomas  Tallis,  the  most  eminent 
of  the  circle,  who  died  in  1585,  devoted  his  talents  almost 
entirely  to  the  Church.  In  science  he  was  not  inferior 
to  his  continental  compeers,  and  his  music  is  pre- 
eminently stately  and  solid.  Besides  the  large  number 
of  motets,  "  services,"  etc.,  which  he  contributed  to  the 
Church,  he  is  now  best  remembered  by  the  harmonies 
added   by  him  to  the   Plain  Song  of   the  old   r^gima 

850 


THE  MUSICAL   SYSTEM  OF  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND 

Tallis  must  therefore  be  regarded  as  the  chief  of  the 
founders  of  the  English  harmonized  chant.  His  tunes 
arranged  for  Day's  psalter  give  him  an  honorable  place 
also  in  the  history  of  English  psalmody. 

Notwithstanding  the  revolutions  in  the  authorized 
ceremony  of  the  Church  of  England  during  the  stormy 
Reformation  period,  from  the  revised  constitutions  of 
Henry  VHI.  and  Edward  VI.  to  the  restored  Catholicism 
of  Mary,  and  back  to  Protestantism  again  under  Eliza- 
beth, the  salaried  musicians  of  the  Church  retained  their 
places  while  their  very  seats  seemed  often  to  rock  beneath 
them,  writing  alternately  for  the  Catholic  and  Protestant 
services  with  equal  facility,  and  with  equal  satisfaction  to 
themselves  and  their  patrons.  It  was  a  time  when  no  one 
could  tell  at  any  moment  to  what  doctrine  or  discipline  he 
might  be  commanded  to  subscribe,  and  many  held  them- 
selves ready  loyally  to  accept  the  faith  of  the  sovereign  as 
their  own.  Such  were  the  ideas  of  the  age  that  the  claims 
of  uniformity  could  honestly  be  held  as  paramount  to 
those  of  individual  judgment.  Only  those  who  combined 
advanced  thinking  with  fearless  independence  of  character 
were  able  to  free  themselves  from  the  prevailing  soph- 
istry on  this  matter  of  conformity  vs.  freedom.  Even  a 
large  number  of  the  clergy  took  the  attitude  of  compli- 
ance to  authority,  and  it  is  often  a  matter  of  wonder  to 
readers  of  the  history  of  this  period  to  see  how  compara- 
tively few  changes  were  made  in  the  incumbencies  of 
ecclesiastical  livings  in  the  shifting  triumphs  of  the 
hostile  confessions.  If  this  were  the  case  with  the 
clergy  it  is  not  surprising  that  the  church  musicians 
should  have  been  still  more  complaisant.     The  style  of 

351 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN   CHURCH 

music  performed  in  the  new  worship,  we  must  remember, 
hardly  differed  in  any  respect  from  that  in  use  under 
the  old  system.  The  organists  and  choir  masters  were 
not  called  upon  to  mingle  in  theological  controversies, 
and  they  had  probably  learned  discretion  from  the  ex- 
perience of  John  Marbecke,  who  came  near  to  being 
burned  at  the  stake  for  his  sympathy  with  Calvinism. 
As  in  Germany,  there  was  no  necessary  conflict  between 
the  musical  practices  of  Catholics  and  Protestants.  The 
real  animosity  on  the  point  of  liturgies  and  music  was 
not  between  AngHcans  and  Catholics,  but  between  An- 
glicans and  Puritans. 

The  old  polyphonic  school  came  to  an  end  with 
Orlando  Gibbons  in  1625.  No  conspicuous  name  appears 
in  the  annals  of  English  church  music  until  we  meet 
that  of  Henry  Purcell,  who  was  born  in  1658  and  died 
in  1695.  We  have  made  a  long  leap  from  the  Eliza- 
bethan period,  for  the  first  half  of  the  seventeenth 
century  was  a  time  of  utter  barrenness  in  the  neglected 
fields  of  art.  The  distracted  state  of  the  kingdom 
during  the  reign  of  Charles  I.,  the  Great  Rebellion,  and 
the  ascendency  of  the  Puritans  under  Cromwell  made 
progress  in  the  arts  impossible,  and  at  one  time  their 
very  existence  seemed  threatened.  A  more  hopeful  era 
began  with  the  restoration  of  the  Stuarts  in  1660. 
Charles  II.  had  spent  some  years  in  France  after  the 
ruin  of  his  father's  cause,  and  upon  his  triumphant 
return  he  encouraged  those  light  French  styles  in  art 
and  literature  which  were  so  congenial  to  his  char- 
acter. He  was  a  devotee  of  music  after  his  fashion ;  he 
warmly  encouraged  it  in  the  Royal  Chapel,  and  a  number 

352 


THE  MUSICAL   SYSTEM  OF  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND 

of  skilful  musicians  came  from  the  boy  choirs  of  this 
establishment. 

The  earliest  anthems  of  the  Anglican  Church  were, 
like  the  Catholic  motet,  unaccompanied.  The  use  of 
the  organ  and  orchestral  instruments  followed  soon  after 
the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century.  No  such  school 
of  organ  playing  arose  in  England  as  that  which  gave 
such  glory  to  Germany  in  the  same  period.  The  organ 
remained  simply  a  support  to  the  voices,  and  attained  no 
distinction  as  a  solo  instrument.  Even  in  Handel's  day 
and  long  after,  few  organs  in  England  had  a  complete 
pedal  board ;  many  had  none  at  all.  The  English 
anthem  has  always  thrown  greater  proportionate  weight 
upon  the  vocal  element  as  compared  with  the  Catholic 
mass  and  the  German  cantata.  In  the  Restoration 
period  the  orchestra  came  prominently  forward  in  the 
church  worship,  and  not  only  were  elaborate  accompani- 
ments employed  for  the  anthem,  but  performances  of 
orchestral  instruments  were  given  at  certain  places  in 
the  service.  King  Charles  II.,  who,  to  use  the  woixis  of 
Dr.  Tudway,  was  "  a  brisk  and  airy  prince,"  did  not  find 
the  severe  solemnity  of  the  a  capella  style  of  Tallis  and 
Gibbons  at  all  to  his  liking.  Under  the  patronage  of 
"the  merry  monarch,"  the  brilliant  style,  then  in  fashion 
on  the  continent,  flourished  apace.  Henry  Purcell,  the 
most  gifted  of  this  school,  probably  the  most  highly 
endowed  musical  genius  that  has  ever  sprung  from 
English  soil,  was  a  man  of  his  time,  preeminent  likewise 
in  opera,  and  much  of  his  church  music  betrays  the  in- 
fluence of  the  gay  atmosphere  which  he  breathed.  But 
his  profound  musiciansliip  prevented  him  from  degrading 
23  353 


MUSIC  IN   THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

his  art  to  the  level  of  the  prevailing  taste  of  the  royal 
court,  and  much  of  his  religious  music  is  reckoned  even 
at  the  present  day  among  the  choicest  treasures  of 
English  art.  As  a  chorus  writer  he  is  one  of  the  first  of 
the  moderns,  and  one  who  would  trace  Handel's  oratorio 
style  to  its  sources  must  take  large  account  of  the  church 
works  of  Henry  Purcell. 

With  the  opening  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  char- 
acteristics of  the  English  anthem  of  the  present  day 
were  virtually  fixed.  The  full,  the  verse,  and  the  solo 
anthem  were  all  in  use,  and  the  accompanied  style  had 
once  for  all  taken  the  place  of  the  a  capella.  During 
the  eighteenth  and  early  part  of  the  nineteenth  centuries 
Enghsh  choir  music  offers  nothing  especially  noteworthy, 
unless  we  except  the  Te  Deums  and  so-called  anthems 
of  Handel,  whose  style  is,  however,  that  of  the  oratorio 
rather  than  church  music  in  the  proper  sense. 

The  works  of  Hayes,  Attwood,  Boyce,  Greene, 
Battishill,  Crotch,  and  others  belonging  to  the  period 
between  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  and  the  middle  of 
the  nineteenth  centuries  are  solid  and  respectable,  but  as 
a  rule  dry  and  perfunctory.  A  new  era  began  with  the 
passing  of  the  first  third  of  the  nineteenth  century,  when 
a  higher  inspiration  seized  English  church  music.  The 
work  of  the  English  cathedral  school  of  the  second  half 
of  the  nineteenth  century  is  highly  honorable  to  the 
English  Church  and  people.  A  vast  amount  of  it  is 
certainly  the  barrenest  and  most  unpromising  of  routine 
manufacture,  for  every  incumbent  of  an  organist's  post 
throughout  the  kingdom,  however  obscure,  feels  that 
his  dignity  requires  him  to  contribute  his  quota  to  the 

354 


THE  MUSICAL   SYSTEM  OF  CHURCH   OF  ENGLAND 

enormously  swollen  accumulation  of  anthems  and  "  ser- 
vices." But  in  this  numerous  company  we  find  the 
names  of  such  men  as  Goss,  Bennett,  Hopkins,  Monk, 
Barnby,  Sullivan,  Smart,  Tours,  Stainer,  Garrett,  Martin, 
Bridge,  Stanford,  Mackenzie,  and  others  not  less  worthy, 
who  have  endowed  the  choral  service  with  richer  color 
and  more  varied  and  appeahng  expression.  This  brilliant 
advance  may  be  connected  with  the  revival  of  spirituaUty 
and  zeal  in  the  English  Church  which  early  in  the  nine- 
teenth century  succeeded  to  the  drowsy  indifference  of 
the  eighteenth  ;  but  we  must  not  push  such  coincidences 
too  far.  The  church  musician  must  always  draw  some 
of  his  inspiration  from  within  the  institution  which  he 
serves,  but  we  have  seen  that  while  the  religious  folk- 
song is  stimulated  only  by  deep  and  widespread  enthu- 
siasm, the  artistic  music  of  the  Church  is  dependent 
rather  upon  the  condition  of  music  at  large.  The  later 
progress  in  English  church  music  is  identified  with  the 
forward  movement  in  all  European  music  which  began 
with  the  symphonies  of  Beethoven,  the  operas  of  Weber 
and  the  French  masters,  and  the  songs  of  Schubert,  and 
which  was  continued  in  Berlioz,  Wagner,  Schumann, 
Mendelssohn,  Chopin,  and  the  still  more  recent  na- 
tional schools.  England  has  shared  this  uplift  of  taste 
and  creative  activity  ;  her  composers  are  also  men  of  the 
new  time.  English  cathedral  music  enters  the  world- 
current  which  sets  towards  a  more  intense  and  personal 
expression.  The  austere  traditions  of  the  Anglican 
Church  restrain  efforts  after  the  brilliant  and  emotional 
within  distinctly  marked  boundaries.  Its  music  can 
never,  as  the  Catholic  mass  has  often  done,  relapse  into 

355 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN   CHURCH 

the  tawdry  and  sensational;  but  the  English  church 
composers  have  recognized  that  the  Church  and  its  art 
exist  for  the  people,  and  that  the  changing  standards  of 
beauty  as  they  arise  in  the  popular  mind  must  be  con- 
sidered, while  at  the  same  time  the  serene  and  elevated 
tone  which  makes  church  music  truly  churchly  must  be 
reverently  preserved.  This,  as  I  understand  it,  is  the 
motive,  more  or  less  conscious,  which  actuates  the 
Church  of  England  composers,  organists,  and  directors 
of  the  present  day.  They  have  not  yet  succeeded  in 
bringing  forth  works  of  decided  genius,  but  they  have 
certainly  laid  a  foundation  so  broad,  and  so  compounded 
of  durable  elements,  that  if  the  English  race  is  capable 
of  producing  a  master  of  the  first  rank  in  religious 
music  he  will  not  be  compelled  to  take  any  radical 
departure,  nor  to  create  the  taste  by  which  he  will  be 
appreciated. 

English  church  music  has  never  been  in  a  more  satis- 
factory condition  than  it  is  to-day.  There  is  no  other 
country  in  which  religious  music  is  so  highly  honored, 
so  much  the  basis  of  the  musical  life  of  the  people. 
The  organists  and  choir  masters  connected  with  the 
cathedrals  and  the  university  and  royal  chapels  are  men 
whose  character  and  intellectual  attainments  would 
make  them  ornaments  to  any  walk  of  life.  The  deep- 
rooted  religious  reverence  which  enters  into  the  substance 
of  English  society,  the  admiration  for  intellect  and 
honesty,  the  healthful  conservatism,  the  courtliness  of 
speech,  tlie  solidity  of  culture  which  comes  from  inherited 
wealth  largely  devoted  to  learning  and  the  embellishment 
of  public  and  private  life,  —  have  all  permeated  eccle- 

356 


THE  MUSICAL   SYSTEM  OF  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND 

siastical  art  and  ceremony,  and  have  imparted  to  them 
an  ideal  dignity  which  is  as  free  from  superstition  as  it 
is  from  vulgarity.  The  music  of  the  Church  of  England, 
like  all  church  music,  must  be  considered  in  connection 
with  its  history  and  its  liturgic  attachments.  It  is  in- 
separably associated  with  a  ritual  of  singular  stateliness 
and  beauty,  and  with  an  architecture  in  cathedral  and 
chapel  in  which  the  recollections  of  a  heroic  and  fading 
past  unite  with  a  grandeur  of  structure  and  beauty  of 
detail  to  weave  an  overmastering  spell  upon  the  mind. 
Church  music,  I  must  constantly  repeat,  is  never  intended 
to  produce  its  impression  alone.  Before  we  ever  allow 
ourselves  to  call  any  phase  of  it  dry  and  uninteresting 
let  us  hear  it  actually  or  in  imagination  amid  its  native 
surroundings.  As  we  mentally  connect  the  Gregorian 
chant  and  the  Italian  choral  music  of  the  sixteenth 
century  with  all  the  impressive  framework  of  their  ritual, 
hearing  within  them  the  echoes  of  the  prayers  of  fifteen 
hundred  years ;  as  the  music  of  Bach  and  his  contempo- 
raries stands  forth  in  only  moderate  relief  from  the  back- 
ground of  a  Protestantism  in  which  scholasticism  and 
mysticism  are  strangely  blended,  —  so  the  Anglican  chant 
and  anthem  are  venerable  with  the  associations  of  three 
centuries  of  conflict  and  holy  endeavor.  Complex  and 
solemnizing  are  the  suggestions  which  strike  across  the 
mind  of  the  student  of  church  history  as  he  hears  in  a 
venerable  English  cathedral  the  lofty  strains  which 
might  elsewhere  seem  commonplace,  but  which  in  their 
ancestral  home  are  felt  to  be  the  natural  speech  of  an 
institution  which  has  found  in  such  structures  its  fitting 
habitation. 

357 


CHAPTER   XI 

CONGREGATIONAL   SONG   IN   ENGLAND   AND   AMERICA 

The  revised  liturgy  and  musical  service  of  the  Church 
of  England  had  not  been  long  in  operation  when  they 
encountered  adversaries  far  more  bitter  and  formidable 
than  the  Catholics.  The  Puritans,  who  strove  to  effect 
a  radical  overturning  in  ecclesiastical  affairs,  to  reduce 
worship  to  a  prosaic  simplicity,  and  also  to  set  up  a  more 
democratic  form  of  church  government,  violently  assailed 
the  estiiblished  Church  as  half  papist.  The  contest  be- 
tween the  antagonistic  principles,  Ritualism  vs.  Puritan- 
ism, Anglicanism  vs.  Presbyterianism,  broke  out  under 
Elizabeth,  but  was  repressed  by  her  strong  hand  only  to 
increase  under  the  weaker  James  I.,  and  to  culminate 
with  the  overthrow  of  Charles  I.  and  the  temporary  tri- 
umph of  Puritanism. 

The  antipathy  of  the  Puritan  party  to  everything 
formal,  ceremonial,  and  artistic  in  worship  was  power- 
fully promoted,  if  not  originally  instigated  by  John  Cal- 
vin, the  chief  fountain-head  of  the  Puritan  doctrine  and 
polity.  The  extraordinary  personal  ascendency  of  Cal- 
vin was  shown  not  only  in  the  adoption  of  his  theolog- 
ical system  by  so  large  a  section  of  the  Protestant  world, 
but  also  in  the  fact  that  his  opinions  concerning  th^ 

358 


IN  ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA 

ideal  and  method  of  public  worship  were  treated  with 
almost  equal  reverence,  and  in  many  localities  have  held 
sway  down  to  the  present  time.  Conscious,  perhaps  to 
excess,  of  certain  harmful  tendencies  in  ritualism,  he 
proclaimed  that  everything  formal  and  artistic  in  wor- 
ship was  an  offence  to  God ;  he  clung  to  this  belief  with 
characteristic  tenacity  and  enforced  it  upon  all  the  con- 
gregations under  his  rule.  Instruments  of  music  and 
trained  choirs  were  to  him  abomination,  and  the  only 
musical  observance  peimitted  in  the  sanctuary  was  the 
singing  by  the  congregation  of  metrical  translations  of 
the  psalms. 

The  Geneva  psalter  had  a  very  singular  origin. 
In  1538  Clement  Marot,  a  notable  poet  at  the  court  of 
Francis  I.  of  France,  began  for  his  amusement  to  make 
translations  of  the  psalms  into  French  verse,  and  had 
them  set  to  popular  tunes.  Marot  was  not  exactly  in 
the  odor  of  sanctity.  The  popularization  of  the  Hebrew 
lyrics  was  a  somewhat  remarkable  whim  on  the  part  of 
a  writer  in  whose  poetry  is  reflected  the  levity  of  his 
time  much  more  than  its  virtues.  As  Van  Laun  says, 
he  was  "  at  once  a  pedant  and  a  vagabond,  a  scholar  and 
a  merry-andrew.  He  translated  the  penitential  psalms 
and  Ovid's  Metamorphoses ;  he  wrote  the  praises  of  St. 
Christina  and  sang  the  triumphs  of  Cupid."  His  psalms 
attained  extraordinary  favor  at  the  dissolute  court. 
Each  of  the  royal  family  and  the  courtiers  chose  a  psalm. 
Prince  Henry,  who  was  fond  of  hunting,  selected  "  Like 
as  the  hart  desireth  the  water  brooks."  The  king's 
mistress,  Diana  of  Poitiers,  chose  the  130th  psalm,  "  Out 
of  the  depths  have  I  cried   to   thee,    O    Lord."     This 

359 


MUSIC  IN   THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

fashion  was,  however,  short-lived,  for  the  theological 
doctors  of  the  Sorbonne,  those  keen  heresy  hunters, 
became  suspicious  that  there  was  some  mysterious  con- 
nection between  Marot's  psahns  and  the  detestable  Prot- 
estant doctrines,  and  in  1543  the  unfortunate  poet  fled 
for  safety  to  Calvin's  religious  commonwealth  at  Geneva. 
Calvin  had  already  the  year  before  adopted  thirty-five  of 
Marot's  psalms  for  the  use  of  his  congregation.  Marot, 
after  his  arrival  at  Geneva,  translated  twenty  more, 
which  were  characteristically  dedicated  to  the  ladies  of 
France.  Marot  died  in  1544,  and  the  task  of  translating 
the  remaining  psalms  was  committed  by  Calvin  to  Theo- 
dore de  Beza  (or  Beze),  a  man  of  a  different  stamp  from 
Marot,  who  liad  become  a  convert  to  the  reformed  doc- 
trines and  had  been  appointed  professor  of  Greek  in  the 
new  university  at  Lusanne.  In  the  year  1552  Beza's 
work  was  finished,  and  the  Geneva  psalter,  now  com- 
plete, was  set  to  old  French  tunes  which  were  taken, 
like  many  of  the  German  chorals,  from  popular  secular 
songs.  The  attribution  of  certain  of  these  melodies, 
adopted  into  modern  hymn-books,  to  Guillaume  Franc  and 
Louis  Bourgeois  is  entirely  unauthorized.  The  most 
celebrated  of  these  anonymous  tunes  is  the  doxology 
in  long  metre,  known  in  England  and  America  as  the 
Old  Hundredth,  although  it  is  set  in  the  Marot-Beza 
psalter  not  to  the  100th  psalm  but  to  the  134th.  These 
psalms  were  at  first  sung  in  unison,  unharmonized,  but 
between  1562  and  1565  the  melodies  were  set  in  four- 
part  counterpoint,  the  melody  in  the  tenor  according  to 
the  custom  of  the  day.  This  was  the  work  of  Claude 
Goudimel,  a  Netherlander,  one  of  the  foremost  musi- 

360 


IN  ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA 

cians  of  his  time,  who,  coming  under  suspicion  of  sym- 
pathy with  the  Huguenot  party,  perished  in  the  massacre 
on  St.  Bartholomew's  night  in  1572. 

A  visitor  to  Geneva  in  1557  wrote  as  follows:  "A 
most  interesting  sight  is  offered  in  the  city  on  the  week 
days,  when  the  hour  for  the  sermon  approaches.  As 
soon  as  the  first  sound  of  the  bell  is  heard  all  siiops  are 
closed,  all  conversation  ceases,  all  business  is  broken  off, 
and  from  all  sides  the  people  hasten  into  the  nearest 
meeting-house.  There  each  one  draws  from  his  pocket 
a  small  book  which  contains  the  psalms  with  notes,  and 
out  of  full  hearts,  in  the  native  speech,  the  congregation 
sings  before  and  after  the  sermon.  Everyone  testifies 
to  me  how  great  consolation  and  edification  is  derived 
from  this  custom." 

Such  was  the  origin  of  the  Calvinistic  psalmody, 
which  holds  so  prominent  a  place  in  the  history  of  relig- 
ious culture,  not  from  any  artistic  value  in  its  products, 
but  as  the  chosen  and  exclusive  form  of  praise  employed 
for  the  greater  part  of  two  centuries  by  the  Reformed 
Churches  of  Switzerland,  France,  and  the  Netherlands, 
and  the  Puritan  congregations  of  England,  Scotland,  and 
America.  On  the  poetic  side  it  sufficed  for  Calvin,  for 
he  said  that  the  psalms  are  the  anatomy  of  the  human 
heart,  a  mirror  in  which  every  pious  mood  of  the  soul 
is  reflected. 

It  is  a  somewhat  singular  anomaly  that  the  large 
liberty  given  to  the  Lutheran  Christians  to  express  their 
religious  convictions  and  impulses  in  hymns  of  their 
own  spontaneous  production  or  choosing  was  denied 
to  the  followers  of   Calvin.     Our  magnificent  heritage 

361 


MUSIC  IN   THE    WESTERN   CHURCH 

of  English  hymns  was  not  founded  amid  the  Reforma- 
tion struggles,  and  thus  we  have  no  lyrics  freighted 
with  the  priceless  historic  associations  which  consecrate 
in  the  mind  of  a  German  the  songs  of  a  Luther  and 
a  Gerhardt.  Efficacious  as  the  Calvinistic  psalmody 
has  been  in  many  respects,  the  repression  of  a  free 
poetic  impulse  in  the  Protestant  Churches  of  Great 
Britain  and  America  for  so  long  a  period  undoubtedly 
tended  to  narrow  the  religious  sympathies,  and  must 
be  given  a  certain  share  of  responsibility  for  the  hard- 
ness of  temper  fostered  by  the  Calvinistic  system.  The 
reason  given  for  the  prohibition,  viz.,  that  only  "in- 
spired "  words  should  be  used  in  the  service  of  praise, 
betrayed  a  strange  obtuseness  to  the  most  urgent  de- 
mands of  the  Christian  heart  in  forbidding  the  very 
mention  of  Christ  and  the  Gospel  message  in  the  song 
of  his  Church.  In  spite  of  this  almost  unaccountable 
self-denial,  if  such  it  was,  we  may,  in  the  light  of  sub- 
sequent history,  ascribe  an  appropriateness  to  the  metri- 
cal versions  of  the  psalms  of  which  even  Calvin  could 
hardly  have  been  aware.  It  was  given  to  Calvinism 
to  furnish  a  militia  which,  actuated  by  a  different  prin- 
ciple than  the  Lutheran  repugnance  to  physical  resist- 
ance, could  meet  pohtical  Catholicism  in  the  open  field 
and  maintain  its  rights  amid  the  shock  of  arms.  In 
this  fleshly  warfare  it  doubtless  drew  much  of  its  martial 
courage  from  those  psalms  which  were  ascribed  to  a  bard 
who  was  himself  a  military  chieftain  and  an  avenger  of 
blood  upon  his  enemies. 

The  unemotional  unison  tunes  to  which  these  rhymed 
psalms  were  set  also  satisfied  the  stern  demands  of  those 

362 


IN  ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA 

rigid  zealots,  who  looked  upon  every  appeal  to  the 
aesthetic  sensibility  in  worship  as  an  enticement  to  com- 
promise with  popery.  Before  condemning  such  a  posi- 
tion as  this  we  should  take  into  account  the  natural 
effect  upon  a  conscientious  and  high-spirited  people 
of  the  fierce  persecution  to  which  they  were  subjected, 
and  the  hatred  which  they  would  inevitably  feel  toward 
everything  associated  with  what  was  to  them  corruption 
and  tyranny. 

We  must,  therefore,  recognize  certain  conditions  of 
the  time  working  in  alliance  with  the  authority  of 
Calvin  to  bring  into  vogue  a  conception  and  method 
of  public  worship  absolutely  in  contradiction  to  the 
almost  universal  usage  of  mankind,  and  nullifying  the 
general  conviction,  we  might  almost  say  the  instinct, 
in  favor  of  the  employment  in  devotion  of  those  artistic 
agencies  by  which  the  religious  emotion  is  ordinarily 
so  strongly  moved.  For  the  first  time  in  the  history 
of  the  Christian  Church,  at  any  rate  for  the  first  time 
upon  a  conspicuous  or  extensive  scale,  we  find  a  party 
of  religionists  abjuring  on  conscientious  grounds  all 
emplojTuent  of  art  in  the  sanctuary.  Beginning  in  an 
inevitable  and  salutary  reaction  against  the  excessive 
development  of  the  sensuous  and  formal,  the  hostility 
to  everything  that  may  excite  the  spirit  to  a  spontaneous 
joy  in  beautiful  shape  and  color  and  sound  was  exalted 
into  a  universally  binding  principle.  With  no  reverence 
for  the  conception  of  historic  development  and  Christian 
tradition,  the  supposed  simplicity  of  the  apostolic  prac- 
tice was  assumed  to  be  a  constraining  law  upon  all  later 
generations.     The  Scriptures  were  taken  not  only  as  a 

863 


MUSIC  IN   THE   WESTERN  CHURCH 

rule  of  faith  and  conduct,  but  also  as  a  law  of  universal 
obligation  in  the  matter  of  church  government  and  dis- 
cipline. The  expulsion  of  organs  and  the  prohibition 
of  choirs  was  in  no  way  due  to  a  hostility  to  music  in 
itself,  but  was  simply  a  detail  of  that  sweeping  revolution 
which,  in  the  attempt  to  level  all  artificial  distinctions 
and  restore  the  offices  of  worship  to  a  simplicity  such 
that  they  could  be  understood  and  administered  by 
the  common  people,  abolished  the  good  of  the  ancient 
system  together  with  the  bad,  and  stripped  religion  of 
those  fair  adornments  which  have  been  found  in  the 
long  run  efficient  to  bring  her  into  sympathy  with  the 
inherent  human  demand  for  beauty  and  order. 

With  regard  to  the  matter  of  art  and  established  form 
in  public  worship  Calvinism  was  at  one  with  itself, 
whether  in  Geneva  or  Great  Britain.  A  large  number 
of  active  Protestants  had  fled  from  England  at  the 
beginning  of  the  persecution  of  Mary,  and  had  taken 
refuge  at  Geneva.  Here  they  came  under  the  direct 
influence  of  Calvin,  and  imbibed  his  principles  in  fullest 
measure.  At  the  death  of  Mary  these  exiles  returned, 
many  of  them  to  become  leaders  in  that  section  of  the 
Protestant  party  which  clamored  for  a  complete  eradica- 
tion of  ancient  habits  and  observances.  No  inspiration 
was  really  needed  from  Calvin,  for  his  democratic  and 
anti-ritualistic  views  were  in  complete  accord  with  the 
temper  of  English  Puritanism.  The  attack  was  de- 
livered all  along  the  line,  and  not  the  least  violent  was 
the  outcry  against  the  litnrgic  music  of  the  established 
Church.  The  notion  held  by  the  Puritans  concerning 
a  proper  worship  music  was  that  of  plain  unison  psalm- 

364 


IN  ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA 

ody.  They  vigorously  denounced  what  was  known  as 
"  curious  music,"  by  which  was  meant  scientific,  artistic 
music,  and  also  the  practice  of  antiphonal  chanting  and 
the  use  of  organs.  Just  why  organs  were  looked  upon 
with  especial  detestation  is  not  obvious.  Themhad 
played  but  a  very  incidental  part  in  the  Catholic  service, 
and  it  would  seem  that  their  efficiency  as  an  aid  to 
psalm  singing  should  have  commended  them  to  Puritan 
favor.  But  such  was  not  the  case.  Even  early  in 
Elizabeth's  reign,  among  certain  articles  tending  to  the 
further  alteration  of  the  liturgy  which  were  presented 
to  the  lower  house  of  Convocation,  was  one  requiring 
the  removal  of  organs  from  the  churches,  which  was 
lost  by  only  a  single  vote.  It  was  a  considerable  time, 
however,  before  the  opposition  again  mustered  such 
force.  Elizabeth  never  wavered  in  her  determination 
to  maintain  the  solemn  musical  service  of  her  Church. 
Even  this  was  severe  enough  as  compared  with  its  later 
expansion,  for  the  multiplication  of  harmonized  chants 
and  florid  anthems  belongs  to  a  later  date,  and  the 
ancient  Plain  Song  still  included  a  large  part  of  the 
service.  Neither  was  Puritanism  in  the  early  stages 
of  the  movement  by  any  means  an  uncompromising 
enemy  to  the  graces  of  art  and  culture.  The  Renais- 
sance delight  in  what  is  fair  and  joyous,  its  satisfaction 
in  the  good  tilings  of  this  world,  lingered  long  even  in 
Puritan  households.  The  young  John  Milton,  gallant, 
accomplished,  keenly  alive  to  the  charms  of  poetry  and 
music,  was  no  less  a  representative  Puritan  than  when  in 
later  years,  "  fallen  on  evil  days,"  he  fulminated  against 
the  levities  of  the   time.      It  was  the   stress  of  party 

365 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

strife,  the  hardening  of  the  mental  and  moral  fibre  that 
often  follows  the  denial  of  the  reasonable  demands  of 
the  conscience,  that  drove  the  Puritan  into  bigotry 
and  intolerance.  Gradually  episcopacy  and  ritualism 
becaile  to  his  mind  the  mark  of  the  beast.  Intent  upon 
knowing  the  divine  will,  he  exalted  his  conception  of 
the  dictates  of  that  will  above  all  human  oidinances, 
until  at  last  his  own  interpretations  of  Scripture,  which 
he  made  his  sole  guide  in  every  public  and  private 
relation  of  life,  seemed  to  him  guaranteed  by  the  highest 
of  all  sanctions.  He  thus  became  capable  of  trampling 
with  a  serene  conscience  upon  the  rights  of  those  who 
maintained  opinions  different  from  his  own.  Fair  and 
just  in  matters  in  which  questions  of  doctrine  or  polity 
were  not  involved,  in  affairs  of  religion  the  Puritan 
became  the  type  and  embodiment  of  all  that  is  unyield- 
ing and  fanatical.  Opposition  to  the  use  of  the  sur- 
plice, the  sign  of  the  cross  in  baptism,  the  posture  of 
kneeling  at  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  antiphonal  chanting, 
expanded  into  uncompromising  condemnation  of  the 
whole  ritual.  Puritanism  and  Presbyterianism  became 
amalgamated,  and  it  only  wanted  the  time  and  oppor- 
tunity to  pull  down  episcopacy  and  liturgy  in  a  common 
overthrow.  The  antipathy  of  the  Puritans  to  artistic 
music  and  official  choirs  was,  therefore,  less  a  matter  of 
personal  feeling  than  it  was  with  Calvin.  His  thought 
was  more  that  of  the  purely  religious  effect  upon  the 
individual  heart;  with  the  Puritan,  hatred  of  cultured 
church  music  was  simply  a  detail  in  the  general  animosity 
which  he  felt  toward  an  offensive  institution. 
The  most  conspicuous  of  the  agitators  during  the 
366 


IN  ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA 

reign  of  Elizabeth  was  Thomas  Cartwright,  Margaret 
Professor  of  Divinity  in  the  University  of  Cambridge, 
who  first  gained  notoriety  by  means  of  public  lectures 
read  in  1570  against  the  doctrine  and  discipline  of  the 
established  Church.  The  coarseness  and  violence  of 
this  man  drew  upon  him  the  royal  censure,  and  he  was 
deprived  of  his  fellowship  and  expelled  from  tlie  Uni- 
versity. His  antipathy  was  especially  aroused  by  the 
musical  practice  of  the  established  Church,  particularly 
the  antiphonal  chanting,  "  tossing  the  psalms  from  one 
side  to  the  other,"  to  use  one  of  his  favorite  expressions. 
"The  devil  hath  gone  about  to  get  it  authority,"  said 
Cartwright.  "As  for  organs  and  curious  singing, 
though  they  be  proper  to  popish  dens,  I  mean  to 
cathedral  churches,  yet  some  others  also  must  have 
them.  The  queen's  chapel  and  these  churches  (which 
should  be  spectacles  of  Christian  reformation)  are 
rather  patterns  to  the  people  of  all  superstition." 

The  attack  of  Cartwright  upon  the  rites  and  dis- 
cipline of  the  Church  of  England,  since  it  expressed 
the  feeling  of  a  strong  section  of  the  Puritan  party, 
could  not  be  left  unanswered.  The  defence  was  under- 
taken by  Whitgift  and  afterward  by  Richard  Hooker, 
the  latter  bringing  to  the  debate  such  learning,  dignity, 
eloquence,  and  logic  that  we  may  be  truly  grateful  to 
the  unlovely  Cartwright  that  his  diatribe  was  the  occa- 
sion of  the  enrichment  of  English  literature  with  so 
masterly  an  exposition  of  the  principles  of  the  Anglican 
system  as  the  Laws  of  Ecclesiastical  Polity. 

As  regards  artistic  and  liturgic  music  Hooker's 
argument  is  so  clear,  persuasive,  and  complete  that  all 

367 


MUSIC  IN   THE    WESTERN   CHURCH 

later  contestants  upon  the  ritualistic  side  have  derived 
their  weapons,  more  or  less  consciously,  from  his  armory. 
After  an  eloquent  eulogy  of  the  power  of  music  over 
the  heart,  Hooker  passes  on  to  prove  the  antiquity  of 
antiphonal  chanting  by  means  of  citations  from  the 
early  Christian  fathers,  and  then  proceeds:  "But  who- 
soever were  the  author,  whatsoever  the  time,  whenceso- 
ever  the  example  of  beginning  this  custom  in  the 
Church  of  Christ;  sith  we  are  wont  to  suspect  things 
only  before  trial,  and  afterward  either  to  approve  them 
as  good,  or  if  we  find  them  evil,  accordingly  to  judge 
of  them ;  their  counsel  must  needs  seem  very  unseason- 
able, who  advise  men  now  to  suspect  that  wherewith 
the  world  hath  had  by  their  own  account  twelve  hun- 
dred years'  acquaintance  and  upwards,  enough  to  take 
away  suspicion  and  jealousy.  Men  know  by  this  time, 
if  ever  they  will  know,  whether  it  be  good  or  evil 
which  hath  been  so  long  retained."  The  argument  of 
Cartwright,  that  all  the  people  have  the  right  to  praise 
God  in  the  singing  of  psalms.  Hooker  does  not  find  a 
sufficient  reason  for  the  abolition  of  the  choir;  he  denies 
the  assertion  that  the  people  cannot  understand  what  is 
being  sung  after  the  antiphonal  manner,  and  then  con- 
cludes :  "  Shall  this  enforce  us  to  banish  a  thing  which 
all  Christian  churches  in  the  world  have  received;  a 
thing  which  so  many  ages  have  held;  a  thing  which 
always  heretofore  the  best  men  and  wisest  governors 
of  God's  people  did  think  they  could  never  commend 
enough ;  a  thing  which  filleth  the  mind  with  comfort 
and  heavenly  delight,  stirreth  up  flagrant  desires  and 
affections   correspondent   unto   that  which   the   words 

368 


IN  ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA 

contain,  allayeth  all  kind  of  base  and  earthly  cogita- 
tions, banisheth  and  driveth  away  those  evil  secret 
suggestions  which  our  invisible  enemy  is  always  apt  to 
minister,  watereth  the  heart  to  the  end  it  may  fructify, 
maketh  the  virtuous  in  trouble  full  of  magnanimity  and 
courage,  serve th  as  a  most  approved  remedy  against  all 
doleful  and  heavy  accidents  which  befall  men  in  this 
present  life;  to  conclude,  so  fitly  accordeth  with  the 
apostle's  own  exhortation,  '  Speak  to  yourselves  in 
psalms  and  hymns  and  spiritual  songs,  making  melody, 
and  singing  to  the  Lord  in  your  hearts,'  that  surely 
there  is  more  cause  to  fear  lest  the  want  thereof  be  a 
maim,  than  the  use  a  blemish  to  the  service  of  God."^ 

The  just  arguments  and  fervent  appeals  of  Hooker 
produced  no  effect  upon  the  fanatical  opponents  of  the 
established  Church.  Under  the  exasperating  condi- 
tions which  produced  the  Great  Rebellion  and  the  sub- 
stitution of  the  Commonwealth  for  the  monarchy,  the 
hatred  against  everything  identified  with  ecclesiastical 
and  political  oppression  became  tenfold  confirmed ;  and 
upon  the  triumph  of  the  most  extreme  democratic  and 
non-conformist  faction,  as  represented  by  the  army  of 
Cromwell  and  the  "  Rump  "  Parliament,  nothing  stood 
in  the  way  of  carrying  the  iconoclastic  purpose  into 
effect.  In  1G44  the  House  of  Lords,  under  the  pres- 
sure of  the  already  triumphant  opposition,  passed  an 
ordinance  that  the  Prayer  Book  should  no  longer  be 
used  in  any  place  of  public  worship.  In  lieu  of  the 
liturgy  a  new  form  of  worship  was  decreed,  in  which 
the  congregational  singing  of  metrical  psalms  was  all  the 

1  Laws  of  Ecclesiastical  Polity,  book  v.,  sees.  38  and  39. 
24  369 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

music  allowed.  "It  is  the  duty  of  Christians,"  so 
the  new  rule  declares,  "  to  praise  God  publicly  by  sing- 
ing of  psalms,  together  in  the  congregation  and  also 
privately  in  the  family.  In  singing  of  psalms  the  voice 
is  to  be  tunably  and  gravely  ordered ;  but  the  chief  care 
is  to  sing  with  understanding  and  with  grace  in  the 
heart,  making  melody  unto  the  Lord.  That  the  whole 
congregation  may  join  herein,  every  one  that  can  read 
is  to  have  a  psalm-book,  and  all  others  not  disabled  by 
age  or  otherwise  are  to  be  exhorted  to  learn  to  read. 
But  for  the  present,  where  many  in  the  congregation 
cannot  read,  it  is  convenient  that  the  minister,  or  some 
fit  person  appointed  by  him  and  the  other  ruling  offi- 
cers, do  read  the  psalm  line  by  line  before  the  singing 
thereof."' 

The  rules  framed  by  the  commission  left  the  matter 
of  instrumental  music  untouched.  Perhaps  it  was 
considered  a  work  of  supererogation  to  proscribe  it,  for 
if  there  was  anything  which  the  Puritan  conscience 
supremely  abhorred  it  was  an  organ.  Sir  Edward 
Deering,  in  his  bill  for  the  abolition  of  episcopacy, 
expressed  the  opinion  of  the  zealots  of  his  party  in  the 
assertion  that  "one  groan  in  the  Spirit  is  worth  the 
diapason  of  all  the  church  music  in  the  world." 

As  far  back  as  1586  a  pamphlet  which  had  a  wide 
circulation  prays  that  "all  cathedral  churches  may  be 
put  down,  where  the  service  of  God  is  grievously 
abused  by  piping    with  organs,    singing,  ringing,  and 

^  It  appears  from  this  injunction  that  the  grotesque  custom  of  "  lining 
out"  or  "deaconing"  the  psalm  was  not  original  in  New  England,  but 
was  borrowed,  like  most  of  the  musical  customs  of  our  Puritan  forfr 
fathers,  from  Englaod. 

370 


IN  ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA 

trowling  of  psalms  from  one  side  of  the  choir  to  the 
other,  with  the  squeaking  of  chanting  choristers, 
disguised  in  white  surplices ;  some  in  corner  caps  and 
silly  copes,  imitating  the  fashion  and  manner  of  Anti- 
christ the  Pope,  that  man  of  sin  and  child  of  perdition, 
with  his  other  rabble  of  miscreants  and  shavelings." 

Such  diatribes  as  this  were  no  mere  idle  vaporing. 
As  soon  as  the  Puritan  army  felt  its  victory  secure, 
these  threats  were  carried  out  with  a  ruthless  violence 
which  reminds  one  of  the  havoc  of  the  image  breakers 
of  Antwerp  in  1566,  who,  with  striking  coincidence  of 
temper,  preluded  their  ravages  by  the  singing  of 
psalms.  All  reverence  for  sacred  association,  all 
respect  for  works  of  skill  and  beauty,  were  lost  in  the 
indiscriminate  rage  of  bigotry.  The  ancient  sanctu- 
aries were  invaded  by  a  vulgar  horde,  the  stained  glass 
windows  were  broken,  ornaments  torn  down,  sepulchral 
monuments  defaced,  libraries  were  ransacked  for  ancient 
service-books  which,  when  found,  were  mutilated  or 
burned,  organs  were  demolished  and  their  fragments 
scattered.  These  barbarous  excesses  had  in  fact  been 
directly  enjoined  by  act  of  Parliament  in  1644,  and  it 
is  not  surprising  that  the  rude  soldiery  carried  out  the 
desires  of  their  superiors  with  wantonness  and  indig- 
nity. A  few  organs,  however,  escaped  the  general 
destruction,  one  being  rescued  by  Cromwell,  who  was 
a  lover  of  religious  music,  and  not  at  all  in  sympathy 
with  the  vandalism  of  his  followers.  Choirs  were  like- 
wise dispersed,  organists,  singers,  and  composers  of  the 
highest  ability  were  deprived  of  their  means  of  liveli- 
hood, and   in  many  cases   reduced   to  the  extreme  of 

371 


MUSIC  IN   THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

destitution.  The  beautiful  service  of  the  Anglican 
Church,  thus  swept  away  in  a  single  day,  found  no 
successor  but  the  dull  droning  psalmody  of  the  Puritan 
congregations,  and  only  in  a  private  circle  in  Oxford, 
indirectly  protected  by  Cromwell,  was  the  feeble  spark 
of  artistic  religious  music  kept  alive. 

The  reestablishment  of  the  liturgy  and  the  musical 
service  of  the  Church  of  England  upon  the  restoration 
of  the  Stuarts  in  1660  has  already  been  described. 
The  Puritan  congregations  clung  with  tenacity  to  their 
peculiar  tenets  and  usages,  prominent  among  which 
was  their  invincible  repugnance  to  artistic  music. 
Although  such  opinions  could  probably  not  prevail  so 
extensively  among  a  really  musical  people,  yet  this  was 
not  the  first  nor  the  last  time  in  history  that  the  art 
which  seems  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  promotion  of 
pure  devotional  feeling  has  been  disowned  as  a  temp- 
tation and  a  distraction.  We  find  similar  instances 
among  some  of  the  more  zealous  German  Protestants 
of  Luther's  time,  and  the  German  Pietists  of  the  seven- 
teenth and  eighteenth  centuries.  At  many  periods  of 
the  Middle  Age  there  were  protests  against  the  lengths 
to  which  artistic  music  had  gone  in  the  Church  and  a 
demand  for  the  reduction  of  the  musical  service  to  the 
simplest  elements.  Still  further  back,  among  the  early 
Christians,  the  horror  at  the  abominations  of  paganism 
issued  in  denunciation  of  all  artistic  tendencies  in  the 
worship  of  the  Church.  St.  Jerome  may  not  inaccu- 
rately be  called  the  first  great  Puritan.  Even  St. 
Augustine  was  at  one  time  inclined  to  believe  that  his 
love  for  the  moving  songs  of  the  Church  was  a  snare, 

372 


IN  ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA 

until,  by  analysis,  he  persuaded  himself  that  it  was  the 
sacred  words,  and  not  merely  the  musical  tones,  which 
softened  his  heart  and  filled  his  eyes  with  tears.  As 
in  all  these  cases,  including  that  of  the  Puritans,  the 
sacrifice  of  aesthetic  pleasure  in  worship  was  not  merely 
a  reactionary  protest  against  the  excess  of  ceremonialism 
and  artistic  enjoyment.  The  Puritan  was  a  precisian. 
The  love  of  a  highly  developed  and  sensuously  beauti- 
ful music  in  worship  always  implies  a  certain  infusion 
of  mysticism.  The  Puritan  was  no  mystic.  He  de- 
manded hard  distinct  definition  in  his  pious  expression 
as  he  did  in  his  argumentation.  The  vagueness  of 
musical  utterance,  its  appeal  to  indefinable  emotion, 
its  effect  of  submerging  the  mind  and  bearing  it  away 
upon  a  tide  of  ecstasy  were  all  in  exact  contradiction  to 
the  Puritan's  conviction  as  to  the  nature  of  genuine 
edification.  These  raptures  could  not  harmonize  with 
his  gloomy  views  of  sin,  righteousness,  and  judgment  to 
come.  And  so  we  find  the  most  spiritual  of  the  arts 
denied  admittance  to  the  sanctuary  by  those  who  actu- 
ally cherished  music  as  a  beloved  social  and  domestic 
companion. 

More  difficult  to  understand  is  the  Puritan  prohibition 
of  all  hymns  except  rhymed  paraphrases  of  the  psalms. 
Metrical  vereions  were  substituted  for  chanted  prose 
versions  for  the  reason,  no  doubt,  that  a  congregation, 
as  a  rule,  cannot  sing  in  perfect  unity  of  cooperation 
except  in  metre  and  in  musical  forms  in  which  one  note 
is  set  to  one  syllal)le.  But  why  the  psalms  alone? 
Why  suppress  the  free  utterance  of  the  believei-s  in 
hymns  of  faith  and  hope?     In  the  view  of  that  day  the 

373 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

psalms  were  directly  inspired  by  the  Holy  Spirit  and 
contemporary  hymns  could  not  be.  We  know  that  a 
characteristic  of  the  Puritan  mind  was  an  intense,  an 
impassioned  reverence  for  the  Holy  Scripture,  so  that 
all  other  forms  of  human  speech  seemed  trivial  and 
unworthy  in  comparison.  The  fact  that  the  psalms,  as 
the  product  of  the  ante-Christian  dispensation,  could 
have  no  reference  to  the  Christian  scheme  except  by 
far-fetched  interpretation  as  symbolic  and  prophetic, 
did  not  escape  the  Puritans,  but  they  consoled  them- 
selves for  the  loss  in  the  thought  that  the  earliest 
churches,  in  which  they  found,  or  thought  they  found 
their  ideal  and  standard,  were  confined  to  a  poetic 
expression  similar  to  their  own.  And  how  far  did 
they  feel  this  to  be  a  loss  ?  Was  not  the  temper  of  the 
typical  Puritan,  after  all,  thoroughly  impregnated  with 
Hebraism  ?  The  real  nature  of  the  spiritual  deprivation 
which  this  restriction  involved  is  apparent  enough  now, 
for  it  barred  out  a  gracious  influence  which  might  have 
corrected  some  grave  faults  in  the  Puritan  character, 
faults  from  which  their  religious  descendants  to  this 
day  continue  to  suffer. 

The  rise  of  an  English  hymnody  corresponding  to  that 
of  Germany  was,  therefore,  delayed  for  more  than  one 
hundred  and  fifty  years.  English  religious  song-books 
were  exclusively  psalm-books  down  to  the  eighteenth 
century.  Poetic  activity  among  the  non-conformists 
consisted  in  translations  of  the  psalms  in  metre,  or 
ratlier  versions  of  the  existing  translations  in  the 
English  Bible,  for  these  sectaries,  as  a  rule,  were  not 
strong  in  Hebrew.     The  singular  passion  in  that  period 

374 


7^^  ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA 

for  putting  everything  into  rhyme  and  metre,  which 
produced  such  grotesque  results  as  turning  an  act  of 
Parliament  into  couplets,  and  paraphrasing  "Paradise 
Lost"  in  rhymed  stanzas  in  order,  as  the  writer  said, 
''to  make  Mr.  Milton  plain,"  gave  aid  and  comfort  to 
the  peculiar  Puritan  views.  The  first  complete  metri- 
cal version  of  the  psalms  was  the  celebrated  edition  of 
Sternhold  and  Hopkins,  the  former  a  gentleman  of  the 
privy  chamber  to  Edward  VI.,  the  latter  a  clergyman 
and  schoolmaster  in  Suffolk.  This  version,  published 
in  1562,  was  received  with  universal  satisfaction  and 
adopted  into  all  the  Puritan  congregations,  maintain- 
ing its  credit  for  full  two  hundred  and  thirty  years, 
until  it  came  at  last  to  be  considered  as  almost  equally 
inspired  with  the  original  Hebrew  text.  So  far  as 
poetic  merit  is  concerned,  the  term  is  hardly  applicable 
to  the  lucubrations  of  these  honest  and  prosaic  men. 
As  Fuller  said,  "  their  piety  was  better  than  their 
poetry,  and  they  had  drunk  more  of  Jordan  than  of 
Helicon."  In  fact  the  same  comment  would  apply  to 
all  the  subsequent  versifiers  of  the  psalms.  It  would 
seem  that  the  very  nature  of  such  work  precludes  all 
real  literary  success.  The  sublime  thought  and  irregu- 
lar, vivid  diction  of  the  Hebrew  poets  do  not  permit 
themselves  to  be  parcelled  out  in  the  cut  and  dried 
patterns  of  conventional  metres.  Once  only  does 
Sternhold  rise  into  grandeur  —  in  the  two  stanzas  which 
James  Russell  Lowell  so  much  admired : 

The  Lord  descended  from  above, 
And  bowed  the  heavens  most  high, 

And  underneath  his  feet  he  cast 
The  darkness  of  the  sky. 
375 


MUSIC  IN   THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

On  cherub  and  on  cherubim 

Full  royally  he  rode ; 
And  on  the  wings  of  all  the  winds 

Came  flying  all  abroad. 

The  graces  of  style,  however,  were  not  greatly  prized 
by  the  Puritan  mind.  Sternhold  and  Hopkins  held  the 
suffrages  of  their  co-religionists  so  long  on  account  of 
their  strict  fidelity  to  the  thought  of  the  original,  the 
ruggedness  and  genuine  force  of  their  expression,  and 
their  employment  of  the  simple  homely  phraseology  of 
the  common  people.  The  enlightened  criticism  of  the 
present  day  sees  worth  in  these  qualities,  and  assigns  to 
the  work  of  Sternhold  and  Hopkins  higher  credit  than 
to  many  smoother  and  more  finished  versions. 

Sternhold  and  Hopkins  partially  yielded  to  Tate  and 
Brady  in  1696,  and  were  still  more  urgently  pushed 
aside  by  the  version  of  Watts  in  1719.  The  numer- 
ous versions  which  have  since  appeared  from  time  to 
time  were  written  purely  for  literary  purposes,  or  else 
in  a  few  cases  (as,  for  example,  the  psalms  of  Ainsworth, 
brought  to  America  by  the  Pilgrim  Fathers)  were 
granted  a  temporary  and  local  use  in  the  churches. 
Glass,  in  his  Story  of  the  Psalter^  enumerates  one 
hundred  and  twenty -three  complete  versions,  the  last 
being  that  of  Wrangham  in  1885.  This  long  list  in- 
cludes but  one  author  —  John  Keble  —  who  has  attained 
fame  as  a  poet  outside  the  annals  of  hymnology.  No 
other  version  ever  approached  in  popularit}'  that  of 
Sternhold  and  Hopkins,  whose  work  passed  through  six 
hundred  and  one  editions. 

Social   hymn  singing,  unlike  liturgic  choir  music,  is 

376 


IN  ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA 

entirely  independent  of  contemporary  art  movements. 
It  flourishes  only  in  periods  of  popular  religious  awaken- 
ing, and  declines  when  religious  enthusiasm  ebbs,  no 
matter  what  may  be  going  on  in  professional  musical 
circles.  Psalm  singing  in  the  English  Reformation 
period,  whatever  its  aesthetic  shortcomings,  was  a  power- 
ful promoter  of  zeal  in  moments  of  triumph,  and  an  un- 
failing source  of  consolation  in  adversity.  As  in  the 
case  of  the  Lutheran  choral,  each  psalm  had  its  "  proper  " 
tune.  Many  of  the  melodies  were  already  associated 
with  tender  experiences  of  home  life,  and  they  became 
doubly  endeared  through  religious  suggestion.  "  The 
metrical  psalms,"  says  Curwen,  "  were  Protestant  in  their 
origin,  and  in  their  use  they  exemplified  the  Protestant 
principle  of  allowing  every  worshiper  to  understand 
and  participate  in  the  service.  As  years  went  on,  the 
rude  numbers  of  Sternhold  and  Hopkins  passed  into  the 
language  of  spiritual  experience  in  a  degree  only  less 
than  the  authorized  version  of  the  Bible.  They  were  a 
liturgy  to  those  who  rejected  liturgies."  ^  It  was  their 
one  outlet  of  poetic  religious  feeling,  and  dry  and 
prosaic  as  both  words  and  music  seem  to  us  now,  we 
must  believe,  since  human  nature  is  everywhere  moved 
by  much  the  same  impulses,  that  these  psalms  and  tunes 
were  not  to  those  who  used  them  barren  and  formal 
things,  and  that  in  the  singing  of  them  there  was  an 
undercurrent  of  rapture  which  to  our  minds  it  seems 
ahnost  impossible  that  they  could  produce.  In  every 
form  of  popular  expression  there  is  always  this  invisible 
aura,  like  the  supposed  imperceptible  fluid  around  an 

^  Curwen,  Studies  In  Worship  Music. 

377 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

electrified  body.  There  are  what  we  may  call  emotion- 
alized reactions,  stimulated  by  social,  domestic,  or 
ancestral  associations,  producing  effects  for  which  the  un- 
sympathetic critic  cannot  otherwise  account. 

Even  this  inspiration  at  last  seemed  to  fade  away. 
When  the  one  hundred  years'  conflict,  of  alternate  as^ 
cendency  and  persecution,  came  to  an  end  with  the 
Restoration  in  1660,  zeal  abated  with  the  fires  of  con- 
flict, and  apathy,  formalism,  and  dulness,  the  counter- 
parts of  lukewarmness  and  Pharisaical  routine  in  the 
established  Church,  settled  down  over  the  dissenting 
sects.  In  the  eighteenth  century  the  psalmody  of  the 
Presbyterians,  Independents,  and  Separatists,  which  had 
also  been  adopted  long  before  in  the  parochial  services  of 
the  established  Church,  declined  into  the  most  con- 
tracted and  unemotional  routine  that  can  be  found  in 
the  history  of  religious  song.  The  practice  of  "  lining 
out "  destroyed  every  vestige  of  musical  charm  that 
might  otherwise  have  remained ;  the  number  of  tunes  in 
common  use  grew  less  and  less,  in  some  congregations 
being  reduced  to  a  bare  half-dozen.  The  conception  of 
individualism,  which  was  the  source  of  congregational 
singing  in  the  first  place,  was  carried  to  such  absurd 
extremes  that  the  notion  extensively  prevailed  that 
every  person  was  privileged  to  sing  the  melody  in  any 
key  or  tempo  and  with  any  grotesque  embellishment 
that  might  be  pleasing  to  himself.  These  fantastic 
abuses  especially  prevailed  in  the  New  England  congre- 
gations in  the  last  half  of  the  seventeenth  and  the  first 
half  of  the  eighteenth  centuries,  but  they  were  only  the 
ultimate  consequences  of  ideas  and  practices  which  pre- 

373 


IN  ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA 

vailed  in  the  mother  country.  The  early  Baptists  for* 
bade  singing  altogether.  The  Brownists  tried  for  a 
short  time  to  act  upon  the  notion  that  singing  in  wor- 
ship, like  prayer*  should  be  extempore.  The  practical 
results  may  easily  be  imagined.  About  the  year  1700 
it  seemed  as  though  the  fair  genius  of  sacred  song  had 
abandoned  the  English  and  American  non-liturgic  sects 
in  despair. 

Like  a  sun-burst,  opening  a  brighter  era,  came  the 
Wesleyan  movement,  and  in  the  same  period  the  hymns 
of  Dr.  Isaac  Watts.  Whatever  the  effect  of  the  exuber- 
ant singing  of  the  Methodist  assemblies  may  have  had 
upon  a  cultivated  ear,  it  is  certain  that  the  enthusiastic 
welcome  accorded  by  the  Wesleys  to  popular  music  as 
a  proselyting  agent,  and  the  latitude  permitted  to  free 
invention  and  adoption  of  hymns  and  tunes,  gave  an 
impulse  to  a  purer  and  nobler  style  of  congregational 
song  which  has  never  been  lost.  The  sweet  and  fervent 
lyrics  of  Charles  and  John  Wesley  struck  a  staggering 
blow  at  the  prestige  of  the  "  inspired  "  psalmody.  His- 
torians of  this  movement  remind  us  that  hymns,  heartily 
sung  by  a  whole  congregation,  were  unknown  as  an 
element  in  public  worehip  at  the  time  when  the  work 
of  the  Wesleys  and  Whitefield  began.  Watts's  hymns 
were  already  written,  but  had  as  yet  taken  no  hold  upon 
either  dissenters  or  churchmen.  The  example  of  the 
Methodists  was  a  revelation  of  the  power  that  lies  in 
popular  song  when  inspired  by  conviction,  and  as  was 
said  of  the  early  Lutheran  choral,  so  it  might  be  said  of 
tlie  Methodist  hymns,  that  they  won  more  souls  than 
even  the  preaching  of  the  evangelists.     John  Wesley,  in 

379 


MUSIC  IN   THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

his  published  directions  concerning  congregational  sing- 
ing, enjoined  accuracy  in  notes  and  time,  heartiness, 
moderation,  unanimity,  and  spirituality  as  with  the  aim  of 
pleasing  God  ratlier  than  one's  self.  He  strove  to  bring 
the  new  hymns  and  tunes  within  the  means  of  the  poor, 
and  yet  took  pains  that  the  music  should  be  of  high 
quality,  and  that  nothing  vulgar  or  sensational  should 
obtain  currency. 

The  truly  beneficent  achievement  of  the  Wesleys  in 
summoning  the  aid  of  the  unconfined  spirit  of  poesy  in 
the  revival  of  spiritual  life  found  a  worthy  reinforce- 
ment in  the  songs  of  Isaac  Watts  (1674-1748).  Al- 
though his  deficiencies  in  the  matter  of  poetical  technic 
and  his  frequent  dry,  scholastic,  and  dogmatic  treatment 
have  rendered  much  the  greater  part  of  his  work  obso- 
lete, yet  a  true  spiritual  and  poetic  fire  burns  in  many  of 
his  lyrics,  and  with  all  necessary  abatement  his  fame  seems 
secure.  Such  poems  as  "  High  in  the  Heavens,  eternal 
God,"  "  Before  Jehovah's  awful  throne,"  and  "  When 
I  survey  the  wondrous  cross"  are  pearls  which  can 
never  lose  their  place  in  the  chaplet  of  English  evangeli- 
cal hymnody.  The  relaxing  prejudice  against  "  unin- 
spired "  hymns  in  church  worship  yielded  to  the  fervent 
zeal,  the  loving  faith,  the  forceful  natural  utterance  of 
the  lyrics  of  Watts.  In  his  psalms  also,  uniting  as  they 
did  the  characteristic  modes  of  feeling  of  both  the  Hebrew 
and  the  Christian  conceptions,  he  made  the  transition 
easy,  and  in  both  he  showed  the  true  path  along  which 
tlie  reviving  poetic  inspiration  of  the  time  must  proceed. 

What  has  come  of  the  impulse  imparted  by  Watts 
and  the  Wesleys  every  student  of  Christian  literature 

880 


IN  ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA 

knows.  To  give  any  adequate  account  of  the  movement 
which  has  enriched  the  multitude  of  modern  hymn- 
books  and  sacred  anthologies  would  require  a  large 
volume.^  No  more  profitable  task  could  be  suggested 
to  one  who  deems  it  his  highest  duty  to  expand  and 
deepen  his  spiritual  nature,  than  to  possess  his  mind  of 
the  jewels  of  devotional  insight  and  chastened  expres- 
sion which  are  scattered  through  the  writings  of  such 
poets  as  Charles  Wesley,  Cowper,  Newton,  Faber,  New- 
man, Lyte,  Heber,  Bonar,  Milman,  Keble,  EUerton, 
Montgomery,  Ray  Palmer,  Coxe,  Whittier,  Holmes,  the 
Gary  sisters,  and  others  equal  or  hardly  inferior  to 
these,  who  have  performed  immortal  service  to  the 
divine  cause  which  they  revered  by  disclosing  to  the 
world  the  infinite  beauty  and  consolation  of  the  Chris- 
tian faith.  No  other  nation,  not  even  the  German,  can 
show  any  parallel  to  the  treasure  embedded  in  English 
and  American  popular  religious  poetry.  This  fact  is 
certainly  not  known  to  the  majority  of  church  members. 
The  average  church-goer  never  looks  into  a  hymn-book 
except  when  he  stands  up  to  sing  in  the  congregation, 
and  this  performance,  whatever  else  it  may  do  for  the 
worshiper,  gives  him  very  little  information  in  regard  to 
the  artistic,  or  even  the  spiritual  value  of  the  book  which 
he  holds  in  liis  liand.  Let  him  read  his  hymn-book  in 
private,  as  he  reads  his  Tennyson  ;  and  although  he 
will  not  be  inclined  to  compare  it  in  point  of  literary 
quality  with  Palgrave's   Golden  Treasury  or  Stedman's 

'  Thi8  has  been  done  by  several  writers,  but  by  no  other  in  such  ad- 
mirable fashion  as  by  Ilorder  in  his  delightful  book,  The  Hymn  Lovti 
(London,  Curwen,  1889). 

88i, 


MUSIC  IN   THE    WESTERN   CHURCH 

Victorian  Anthology,  yet  he  will  probably  be  surprised 
at  the  number  of  lyrics  whose  delicacy,  fervor,  and  pathos 
will  be  to  hira  a  revelation  of  the  gracious  elements  that 
pervade  the  minor  religious  poetry  of  the  English 
tongue. 

Parallel  with  the  progress  of  hymnody,  and  un- 
doubtedly stimulated  by  it,  has  been  the  development 
of  the  hymn-tune  and  the  gradual  rise  of  public  taste  in 
this  branch  of  religious  art.  The  history  of  the  English 
and  American  hymn-tune  may  easily  be  traced,  for  its 
line  is  unbroken.  Its  sources  also  are  well  known, 
except  that  the  origins  of  the  first  settings  of  the  psalms 
of  Sternhold  and  Hopkins  are  in  many  cases  obscure. 
Those  who  first  fitted  tunes  to  the  metrical  psalms 
borrowed  some  of  their  melodies  (the  "  Old  Hundredth  " 
is  a  conspicuous  instance)  from  the  Huguenot  psalter 
of  Marot  and  Beza,  and  others  probably  from  English 
folk-songs.  There  were  eminent  composers  in  England 
in  the  Reformation  period,  many  of  whom  lent  their 
services  in  harmonizing  the  tunes  found  in  the  early 
psalters,  and  also  contributed  original  melodies.  All 
these  ancient  tunes  were  syllabic  and  diatonic,  dignified 
and  stately  in  movement,  often  sombre  in  coloring,  in  all 
these  particulars  bearing  a  striking  resemblance  to  the 
German  choral.  Some  of  the  strongest  tunes  in  the 
modern  hymnals,  for  example,  "  Dundee,"  are  derived 
from  the  Scotch  and  English  psalters  of  the  sixteenth 
and  seventeenth  centuries,  and  efforts  are  being  made 
in  some  quarters  to  bring  others  of  the  same  source  and 
type  into  favor  with  present-day  congregations.  This 
severe  diatonic  school  was  succeeded  in  the  eighteenth 

382 


IN  ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA 

century  by  a  taste  for  the  florid  and  ornate  which,  in 
spite  of  some  contributions  of  a  very  beautiful  and  ex- 
pressive character,  on  the  whole  marked  a  decUne  in 
favor  of  the  tawdry  and  sensational.  If  this  tendency 
was  an  indication  of  an  experimenting  spirit,  its  result 
was  not  altogether  evil.  Earnest  and  dignified  as  the 
old  psalm-tunes  were,  the  Church  could  not  live  by 
them  alone.  The  lighter  style  was  a  transition,  and 
the  purer  modern  school  is  the  outcome  of  a  process 
which  strives  to  unite  the  breadth  and  dignity  of  the 
ancient  tunes  with  the  warmth  and  color  of  those  of 
the  second  period.  Together  with  the  cultivation  of  the 
florid  style  we  note  a  wider  range  of  selection.  Many 
tunes  were  taken  from  secular  sources  (not  in  itself  a 
fault,  since,  as  we  have  seen,  many  of  the  best  melodies 
in  the  Lutheran  and  Calvinistic  song-books  had  a 
similar  origin)  ;  and  the  introduction  of  Catholic  tunes, 
such  as  the  peerless  "  Adeste  Fideles  "  and  the  "  Sicil- 
ian hymn,"  together  with  some  of  the  finest  German 
chorals,  greatly  enriched  the  English  tune-books. 

In  comparatively  recent  times  a  new  phase  of  progress 
has  manifested  itself  in  the  presence  in  the  later  hymnals 
of  a  large  number  of  musical  compositions  of  novel  form 
and  coloring,  entirely  the  product  of  our  own  period. 
These  tunes  are  representative  of  the  present  school  of 
Church  of  England  composers,  such  as  Dykes,  Barnby, 
Smart,  Sullivan,  Monk,  Hopkins,  and  many  others 
equally  well  known,  who  have  contributed  a  large 
quantity  of  melodies  of  exceeding  beauty,  supported  by 
varied  and  often  striking  harmonies,  quite  unlike  the 
congregational  songs  of  any  other  natioD..    Composed 

383 


MUSIC   IN   THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

for  the  noble  ceremony  of  the  Anglican  Church,  these 
tunes  have  made  their  way  into  many  of  the  non-liturgic 
sects,  and  the  value  of  their  influence  in  inspiring  a 
love  for  that  which  is  purest  and  most  salutary  in  wor- 
ship music  has  been  incalculable.  Much  has  been  writ- 
ten in  praise  of  these  new  Anglican  tunes,  and  a  good 
deal  also  in  depreciation.  Many  of  them  are,  it  must  be 
confessed,  over-sophisticated  for  the  use  of  the  average 
congregation,  carrying  refinements  of  harmony  and 
rhythm  to  such  a  point  that  they  are  more  suitable  for 
the  choir  than  for  the  congregation.  Their  real  value, 
taken  collectively,  can  best  be  estimated  by  those  who, 
having  once  used  them,  should  imagine  themselves 
deprived  of  them.  The  tunes  that  served  the  needs  of 
former  generations  will  not  satisfy  ours.  Dr.  Hanslick 
remarks  that  there  is  music  of  which  it  may  correctly  be 
said  that  it  once  was  beautiful.  It  is  doubtless  so  with 
hymn-tunes.  Church  art  can  never  be  kept  unaffected 
by  the  secular  currents  of  the  time,  and  those  who,  in 
opera  house  and  concert  hall,  are  thrilled  by  the  impas- 
sioned strains  of  the  modern  romantic  composers,  will 
inevitably  long  for  something  at  least  remotely  analogous 
in  the  songs  of  the  sanctuary.  That  is  to  say,  the 
congregational  tune  must  be  appealing,  stirring,  emo- 
tional, as  the  old  music  doubtless  was  to  the  people  of 
the  old  time,  but  certainly  is  no  longer.  This  logical 
demand  the  English  musicians  of  the  present  day  and 
their  American  followers  assume  to  gratify —  that  is,  so 
far  as  the  canons  of  pure  art  and  ecclesiastical  propriety 
will  allow  —  and,  in  spite  of  the  cavils  of  purists  and  re- 
actionaries, their  melodies  seem  to  have  taken  a  permanent 

384 


IN  ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA 

place  in  the  affections  of  the  Protestant  English-speaking 
world.  The  success  of  these  melodies  is  due  not  merely 
to  their  abstract  musical  beauty,  but  perhaps  still  more 
to  the  subtle  sympathy  which  their  style  exhibits  with 
the  present-day  tendencies  in  theology  and  devotional 
experience,  which  are  reflected  in  the  peculiarly  joyous 
and  confiding  note  of  recent  hymnody.  So  far  as  music 
has  the  power  to  suggest  definite  conceptions,  there 
seems  to  be  an  apt  correspondence  between  this  fervent, 
soaring,  touching  music  and  the  hymns  of  the  faith  by 
which  these  melodies  were  in  most  instances  directly 
inspired. 

So  far  as  there  are  movements  in  progress  bringing 
into  shape  a  body  of  congregational  song  which  contains 
features  that  are  likely  to  prove  a  permanent  enrich- 
ment of  the  religious  anthology,  they  are  more  or  less 
plainly  indicated  in  the  hymnals  which  have  been  com- 
piled in  this  country  during  the  past  ten  or  twelve  years. 
Not  that  we  may  look  forward  to  any  sudden  outburst 
of  hymn-singing  enthusiasm  parallel  to  that  which 
attended  the  Lutheran  and  Wesleyan  revivals,  for  such 
a  musical  impulse  is  always  the  accompaniment  of  some 
mighty  religious  awakening,  of  which  there  is  now  no 
sign.  The  significance  of  these  recent  hymnals  lies 
rather  in  the  evidence  they  give  of  the  growth  of  higher 
standards  of  taste  in  religious  verse  and  music,  and  also 
of  certain  changes  in  progress  in  our  churches  in  the 
prevailing  modes  of  religious  thought.  The  evident 
tendency  of  hymnology,  as  indicated  by  the  new  books, 
is  to  throw  less  emphasis  upon  those  more  mechanical 
conceptions  which  gave  such  a  hard  precision  to  a  large 
25  385 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

portion  of  the  older  hymnody.  A  finer  poetic  afflatus 
has  joined  with  a  more  penetrating  and  intimate  vision 
of  the  relationship  between  the  divine  and  the  human ; 
and  this  mental  attitude  is  reflected  in  the  loving  trust, 
the  emotional  fervor,  and  the  more  delicate  and  inward 
poetic  expression  which  prevail  in  the  new  hymnody.  It 
is  inevitable  that  the  theological  readjustment,  which  is 
so  palpable  to  every  intelligent  observer,  should  color 
and  deflect  those  forms  of  poetic  and  musical  expression 
which  are  instinctively  chosen  as  the  utterance  of  the 
worshiping  people.  Every  one  at  all  familiar  with  the 
history  of  rehgious  experience  is  aware  how  sensitive 
popular  song  has  been  as  an  index  of  popular  feehng. 
Nowhere  is  the  power  of  psychologic  suggestion  upon 
the  masses  more  evident  than  in  the  domain  of  song. 
Hardly  does  a  revolutionary  religious  idea,  struck  from 
the  brains  of  a  few  leading  thinkers  and  reformers,  effect 
a  lodgment  in  the  hearts  of  any  considerable  section  of 
the  common  people,  than  it  is  immediately  projected  in 
hymns  and  melodies.  So  far  as  it  is  no  mere  scholastic 
formula,  but  possesses  the  power  to  kindle  an  active  life 
in  the  soul,  it  will  quickly  clothe  itself  in  figurative 
speech  and  musical  cadence,  and  in  many  cases  it  will 
filter  itself  through  this  medium  until  all  that  is  crude, 
formal,  and  speculative  is  drained  away,  and  what  is 
essential  and  fruitful  is  retained  as  a  permanent  spiritual 
possession. 

If  we  were  able  to  view  the  present  movement  in 
popular  religious  verse  from  a  sufficient  distance,  we 
should  doubtless  again  find  illustration  of  this  general 
law.     Far  less  obviously,  of  course,  than  in  the  cases  of 

386 


IN  ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA 

the  Hussite,  Lutheran,  and  Wesleyan  movements,  for 
the  changes  of  our  day  are  more  gradual  and  placid.  I 
would  not  imply  that  the  hymns  that  seem  so  much 
the  natural  voice  of  the  new  tendencies  are  altogether, 
or  even  in  the  majority  of  cases,  recent  productions. 
Many  of  them  certainly  come  from  Watts  and  Cowper 
and  Newton,  and  other  eighteenth-century  men,  whose 
theology  contained  many  gloomy  and  obsolete  tenets, 
but  whose  hearts  often  denied  their  creeds  and  spon- 
taneously uttered  themselves  in  strains  which  every 
shade  of  rehgious  conviction  may  claim  as  its  own.  It 
is  not,  therefore,  that  the  new  hymnals  have  been  mainly 
supplied  by  new  schools  of  poetry,  but  the  compilers,  being 
men  quick  to  sense  the  new  devotional  demands  and  also 
in  complete  sympathy  with  them,  have  made  their 
selections  and  expurgations  from  a  somewhat  modified 
motive,  repressing  certain  phases  of  thought  and  em- 
phasizing others,  so  that  their  collections  take  a  wider 
range,  a  loftier  sweep,  and  a  more  joyful,  truly  evangeli- 
cal tone  than  those  of  a  generation  ago.  It  is  more 
the  inner  life  of  faith  which  these  books  so  beauti- 
fully present,  less  that  of  doctrinal  assent  and  outer 
conformity. 

These  recent  contributions  to  the  service  of  praise  are 
not  only  interesting  in  themselves,  but  even  more  so, 
perhaps,  as  the  latest  terms  in  that  long  series  of  popu- 
lar religious  song-books  which  began  with  the  indepen- 
dence of  the  English  Church.  The  Plymouth  Hymnal 
and  In  Excelsis  are  the  ripened  issue  of  that  move- 
ment whose  first  ofiicial  outcome  was  the  quaint  psalter 
of  Sternhold  and  Hopkins;  and  the  contrast  between 

387 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

the  old  and  the  new  is  a  striking  evidence  of  the 
changes  which  three  and  a  half  centuries  have  effected 
in  culture  and  spiritual  emphasis  as  revealed  in  popular 
song.  The  early  lyrics  were  prepared  as  a  sort  of  testi- 
mony against  formaUsm  and  the  use  of  human  inven- 
tions in  the  office  of  worship ;  they  were  the  outcome 
of  a  striving  after  apostolic  simplicity,  while  in  their 
emotional  aspects  they  served  for  consolation  in  trial 
and  persecution,  and  as  a  means  of  stiffening  the  reso- 
lution in  times  of  conflict.  The  first  true  hymns,  as 
distinct  from  versified  psalms,  were  designed  still  more 
to  quicken  joy  and  hope,  and  yet  at  the  same  time  a 
powerful  motive  on  the  part  of  their  authors  was  to 
give  instruction  in  the  doctrines  of  the  faith  by  a  means 
more  direct  and  persuasive  than  semions,  and  to  rein- 
force the  exhortations  of  evangelists  by  an  instrument 
that  should  be  effective  in  awaking  the  consciences  of 
the  unregenerate.  It  is  very  evident  that  the  hymnah 
of  our  day  are  pervaded  by  an  intention  somewhat 
different  from  this,  or  at  least  supplementary  to  it 
The  Church,  having  become  stable,  and  having  a  some- 
what different  mission  to  perform  under  the  changed 
conditions  of  the  time,  employs  its  hymns  and  tunes 
not  so  much  as  revival  machinery,  or  as  a  means  for 
inculcating  dogma,  as  for  spiritual  nurture.  Hymns 
have  become  more  subjective,  melodies  and  harmonies 
more  refined  and  alluring ;  the  tone  has  become  less 
stern  and  militant ;  the  ideas  are  more  universal  and 
tender,  less  mechanical  and  precise ;  appeal  is  made 
more  to  the  sensibility  than  to  the  intellect,  and  the 
chief  stress  is  laid  upon  the  joy  and  peace  that  come 

388 


IN  ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA 

from  believing.  It  is  impossible  to  avoid  vagueness  in 
attempting  so  broad  a  generalization.  But  one  who 
studies  the  new  hymn-books,  reads  the  prefaces  of  their 
editors,  and  notes  the  character  of  the  hymns  that  are 
most  used  in  our  churches,  will  realize  that  now,  as  it 
has  always  been  in  the  history  of  the  Church,  the  guid- 
ing thought  and  feeling  of  the  time  may  be  traced  in 
popular  song,  more  faintly  but  not  less  inevitably  than 
in  the  instructions  of  the  pulpit.  When  viewed  in 
historic  sequence  one  observes  the  growing  prominence 
of  the  mystical  and  subjective  elements,  the  fading 
away  of  the  early  fondness  for  scholastic  definition. 
Lyric  poetry  is  in  its  nature  mystical  and  intuitive,  and 
the  hymnody  of  the  future,  following  the  present  ten- 
dency in  theology  to  direct  the  thought  to  the  personal, 
historic  Christ,  and  to  appropriate  his  example  and 
message  in  accordance  with  the  light  which  advancing 
knowledge  obtains  concerning  man's  nature,  needs,  and 
destiny,  will  aim  more  than  ever  before  to  purify  and 
quicken  the  higher  emotional  faculties,  and  will  find  a 
still  larger  field  in  tliose  fundamental  convictions  which 
transcend  the  bounds  of  creeds,  and  which  affirm  the 
brotherhood  of  all  sincere  seekers  after  God. 


389 


CHAPTER   XII 

PROBLEMS   OF   CHURCH   MUSIC    IN   AMERICA 

In  the  foregoing  sketch  of  the  rise  and  growth  of 
music  in  the  Western  Church  no  account  was  taken  of  a 
history  of  church  music  in  America.  If  by  art  history 
we  mean  a  record  of  progressive  changes,  significant 
of  a  persistent  impulse  which  issues  in  distinctive  styles 
and  schools,  the  chronicles  of  ecclesiastical  song  in 
this  country  hardly  come  within  the  scope  of  history. 
No  new  forms  or  methods  have  arisen  on  this  side 
of  the  Atlantic.  The  styles  of  composition  and  the 
systems  of  pnictice  which  have  existed  among  us 
have  simply  been  transferred  from  the  older  countries 
across  the  sea.  Every  form  of  church  music  known  in 
Europe  flourishes  in  America,  but  there  is  no  native 
school  of  religious  music,  just  as  there  is  no  Ameri- 
can school  of  secular  music.  The  Puritan  colonists 
brought  with  them  a  few  meagre  volumes  of  metrical 
psalms,  and  a  dozen  or  so  of  tunes  wherewith  to  sing 
them  in  the  uncouth  fashion  which  already  prevailed 
in  England.  They  brought  also  the  rigid  Calvinistic 
liostility  to  everything  that  is  studied  and  uniform  in 
religious  ceremony,  and  for  a  century  or  more  they 
seemed  to  glory  in  the  distinction  of  maintaining 
church   song    in    the   most    barbarous    condition   that 

390 


PROBLEMS   OF  CHURCH  MUSIC  IN  AMERICA 

dim  art  has  ever  suffered  since  the  founding  of  Chris- 
tianity. It  was  not  possible  that  this  state  of  affairs 
could  endure  in  a  community  that  was  constantly 
advancing  in  education  and  in  the  embellishments  of 
life,  and  a  bitter  conflict  arose  between  puritanic 
tradition  and  the  growing  perception  of  the  claims  of 
fitness  and  beauty.  One  who  would  amuse  himself 
with  the  grotesque  controversies  which  raged  around 
this  question  among  the  pious  New  England  colonists, 
the  acrid  disputes  between  the  adherents  of  the  "  usual 
way  "  and  the  "  rulable  way  "  of  singing  psalmody,  the 
stern  resistance  to  choirs  and  to  organs,  and  the  quaint 
annals  of  the  country  singing-school,  may  find  rich 
gratification  in  some  of  the  books  of  Mrs.  Earle, 
especially  The  Sabbath  in  Puritan  New  England. 
The  work  of  such  reformers  as  William  Billings  in 
the  eighteenth  century  and  Lowell  Mason  in  the  nine- 
teenth, the  first  concerts  of  the  Handel  and  Haydn 
Society,  the  influx  of  the  German  culture  shifting  all 
American  music  upon  new  foundations,  are  all  land- 
marks which  show  how  rapid  and  thorough  has  been 
our  advance  in  musical  scholarship  and  taste,  but 
which  also  remind  us  how  little  of  our  achievement 
has  been  really  indigenous. 

In  spite  of  the  poverty  of  original  invention  which 
forbids  us  to  claim  that  American  church  music  has 
in  any  way  contributed  to  the  evolution  of  the  art, 
there  is  no  epoch  in  this  art's  history  which  possesses 
a  more  vital  interest  to  the  American  churchman  of 
the  present  day.  We  have  found  amid  all  the  fluctu- 
ations of   ecclesiastical  music,  mediaeval  and  modern, 

891 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

Catholic  and  Protestant,  one  ever-recurring  problem, 
which  is  no  sooner  apparently  settled  than  new  con- 
ditions arise  which  force  it  once  more  upon  the  atten- 
tion of  minister  and  layman.  The  choice  of  a  style 
of  music  which  shall  most  completely  answer  the 
needs  of  worship  as  the  conceptions  and  methods  of 
public  worship  vary  among  different  communities  and 
in  different  epochs,  and  which  at  the  same  time  shall 
not  be  unworthy  of  the  claims  of  music  as  a  fine  art, 
—  this  is  the  historic  dilemma  which  is  still,  as  ever, 
a  fruitful  source  of  perplexity  and  discord.  The  Cath- 
olic and  Episcopal  Churches  are  less  disturbed  by  this 
spectre  than  their  non-liturgic  brethren.  An  authori- 
tative ritual  carries  its  laws  over  upon  music  also ;  tra- 
dition, thus  fortified,  holds  firm  against  innovation,  and 
the  liturgic  and  clerical  conception  of  music  gives  a 
stability  to  musical  usages  which  no  aberrations  of 
taste  can  quite  unsettle.  But  in  the  non-liturgic 
churches  of  America  one  sees  only  a  confusion  of  pur- 
poses, a  lack  of  agreement,  an  absence  of  every  shade 
of  recognized  authority.  The  only  tradition  is  that 
of  complete  freedom  of  choice.  There  is  no  admitted 
standard  of  taste  ;  the  whole  musical  service  is  experi- 
mental, subject  to  the  preferences,  more  or  less  ca- 
pricious, of  choir-master  or  music  committee.  There 
is  no  system  in  the  separate  societies  that  may  not  be 
overthrown  by  a  change  of  administration.  The  choir 
music  is  eclectic,  drawn  indiscriminately  from  Catholic, 
German,  and  English  sources ;  or  if  it  is  of  American 
composition  it  is  merely  an  obvious  imitation  of  one 
of  these  three.     The  congregational  music  ranges  from 

392 


PROBLEMS  OF  CHURCH  MUSIC  IN  AMERICA 

the  German  choral  to  the  "  Gospel  song,"  or  it  may 
be  an  alternation  of  these  two  incongruous  styles.  The 
choir  is  sometimes  a  chorus,  sometimes  a  solo  quartet; 
the  latter  mainly  forced  to  choose  its  material  from 
"arrangements,"  or  from  works  written  for  chorus. 
Anon  the  choir  is  dismissed  and  the  congregation, 
led  by  a  precentor  with  voice  or  cornet,  assumes  the 
whole  burden  of  the  office  of  song.  These  conditions 
are  sufficient  to  explain  why  a  distinct  school  of  Amer- 
ican church  music  does  not  exist  and  never  can  exist. 
The  great  principle  of  self-determination  in  doctrine 
and  ecclesiastical  government,  which  has  brought  into 
existence  such  a  multitude  of  sects,  may  well  be  a 
necessity  in  a  composite  and  democratic  nation,  but 
it  is  no  less  certainly  a  hindrance  to  the  develop- 
ment of  a  uniform  type  of  religious  music. 

There  would  be  a  much  nearer  approach  to  a  re- 
concilement of  all  these  differences,  and  the  cause  of 
church  music  would  be  in  a  far  more  promising  con- 
dition, if  there  were  a  closer  sympathy  between  the 
standard  of  music  within  the  Church  and  that  pre- 
vailing in  educated  society  outside.  There  is  cer- 
tainly a  diversity  of  purpose  between  church  music 
and  secular  music,  and  corresponding  distinctions  must 
be  preserved  in  respect  to  form  and  expression.  A 
secularized  style  of  church  music  means  decadence. 
But  the  vitality  of  ecclesiastical  art  has  always  seemed 
to  depend  upon  retaining  a  conscious  touch  with  the 
large  art  movements  of  the  world,  and  church  music 
has  cert<iinly  never  thrived  when,  in  consequence  of 
neglect  or  complacency,  it  has  been  suffered  to  become 

393 


MUSIC  IN   THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

inferior  to  its  rival.  In  America  there  is  no  such  stim- 
ulating interaction  between  the  music  of  the  Church 
and  that  of  the  concert  hall  and  the  social  circle  as 
there  has  been  for  centuries  in  Germany  and  England. 
The  Church  is  not  the  leader  in  musical  culture.  We 
are  rapidly  becoming  a  musical  nation.  When  one 
sees  what  is  going  on  in  the  opera  houses,  concert 
halls,  colleges,  conservatories,  public  schools,  and  pri- 
vate instruction  rooms,  contrasting  the  present  situa- 
tion with  that  of  fifty  years  ago,  the  outcome  can 
easily  be  predicted.  But  the  music  of  the  Church, 
in  spite  of  gratifying  efforts  here  and  there,  is  not 
keeping  pace  with  this  progress,  and  the  Church  must 
inevitably  suffer  in  certain  very  important  interests  if 
this  gap  is  permitted  continually  to  widen. 

There  are  many  causes  for  this  state  of  affairs,  some 
incidental  and  avoidable,  others  lying  in  the  very 
nature  of  music  itself  and  the  special  service  which 
the  Church  requires  of  it.  Perhaps  the  chief  difficulty 
in  the  way  of  a  high  artistic  development  of  religious 
music  is  the  opinion,  which  prevails  widely  among  the 
most  devout,  that  music  when  allied  to  worship  must 
forego  what  seems  the  natural  right  of  all  art  to  pro- 
duce pleasure  as  an  end  in  itself,  and  that  it  must 
subordinate  itself  to  the  sacred  text  and  employ  its 
persuasive  powers  solely  to  enforce  divine  truth  upon 
tlie  heart,  —  meaning  by  divine  truth  some  particular 
form  of  religious  confession.  Whether  this  view  is 
true  or  false,  whenever  it  is  consistently  acted  upon,  it 
seems  to  me,  music  declines. 

Now  it  is  evident  that  music  is  less  willing  than  any 

394 


PROBLEMS  OF  CHURCH  MUSIC  IN  AMERICA 

other  art  to  assume  this  inferior  station.  Architecture 
serves  a  utilitarian  purpose,  the  pleasure  of  the  eye 
being  supplementary ;  painting  and  sculpture  may  easily 
become  didactic  or  reduced  to  the  secondary  function 
of  ornament.  But  of  all  the  arts  music  is  the  most 
sensuous  (I  use  the  word  in  its  technical  psychologic 
sense),  direct,  and  penetrating  in  its  operation.  Music 
acts  with  such  immediateness  and  intensity  that  it 
seems  as  though  it  were  impossible  for  her  to  be  any- 
thing but  supreme  when  she  puts  forth  all  her  energies. 
We  may  force  her  to  be  dull  and  commonplace,  but 
that  does  not  meet  the  difficulty.  For  it  is  the  very 
beauty  and  glory  of  music  which  the  Church  wishes  to 
use,  but  how  shall  this  be  prevented  from  asserting 
itself  to  such  an  extent  that  devotion  is  swept  away 
upon  the  wings  of  nervous  excitement?  Let  any  one 
study  his  sensations  when  a  trained  choir  pours  over 
him  a  flood  of  rapturous  harmony,  and  he  will  perhaps 
find  it  difficult  to  decide  whether  it  is  a  devotional 
uplift  or  an  aesthetic  afflatus  that  has  seized  him.  Is 
there  actually  any  essential  difference  between  his 
mental  state  at  this  moment  and  that,  for  instance,  at 
the  close  of  "  Tristan  und  Isolde  "  ?  Any  one.  who  tries 
this  experiment  upon  himself  will  know  at  once  what  is 
this  problem  of  music  in  the  Church  which  has  puzzled 
pious  men  for  centuries,  and  which  has  entered  into 
every  historic  movement  of  church  extension  or  reform. 
A  little  clear  thinking  on  this  subject,  it  seems  to 
me,  will  convince  any  one  that  music  alone,  in  and  of 
itself,  never  makes  people  religious.  There  is  no  such 
thing  as  religious  music  per  se.     When  music  in  reli- 

395 


MUSIC  IN  THE   WESTERN  CHURCH 

gious  ceremony  inspires  a  distinctly  prayerful  mood,  it 
does  so  mainly  through  associations  and  accessories. 
And  if  this  mood  is  not  induced  by  other  causes,  music 
alone  can  never  be  relied  upon  to  create  it.  Music, 
even  the  noblest  and  purest,  is  not  always  or  necessarily 
an  aid  to  devotion,  and  there  may  even  be  a  snare  in 
what  seems  at  first  a  devoted  ally.  The  analogy  that 
exists  between  religious  emotion  and  musical  rapture  is, 
after  all,  only  an  analogy;  aesthetic  delight,  though  it 
be  the  most  refined,  is  not  worship;  the  melting  ten- 
derness that  often  follows  a  sublime  instrumental  or 
choral  strain  is  not  contrition.  Those  who  speak  of  all 
good  music  as  religious  do  not  understand  the  meaning 
of  the  terms  they  use.  For  devotion  is  not  a  mere 
vague  feeling  of  longing  or  transport.  It  must  involve 
a  positive  recognition  of  an  object  of  worship,  a  reach- 
ing up,  not  to  something  unknown  or  inaccessible,  but 
to  a  God  who  reveals  himself  to  us,  and  whom  we 
believe  to  be  cognizant  of  the  sincerity  of  the  worship 
offered  him;  it  must  involve  also  a  sense  of  humility 
before  an  almighty  power,  a  penitence  for  sin,  a  desire 
for  pardon  and  reconciliation,  a  consciousness  of  need 
and  dependence,  and  an  active  exercise  of  faith  and 
love.  Into  such  convictions  music  may  come,  lending 
her  aid  to  deepen  them,  to  give  them  tangible  expres- 
sion, and  to  enhance  the  sense  of  joy  and  peace  which 
may  be  their  consequence ;  but  to  create  them  is  beyond 
her  power. 

The  office  of  music  is  not  to  suggest  concrete  images, 
or  even  to  arouse  definite  namable  sentiments,  but 
rather  to  intensify  ideas  and  feelings  already  existing, 

396, 


PROBLEMS  OF  CHURCH  MUSIC  IN  AMERICA 

or  to  release  the  mind  and  put  it  into  that  sensitive, 
expectant  state  in  which  conceptions  that  appeal  to  the 
emotion  may  act  unhampered.  The  more  generalized 
function  of  music  in  the  sanctuary  is  to  take  possession 
of  the  prepared  and  chastened  mood  which  is  the  ante- 
cedent of  worship,  to  separate  it  from  other  moods  and 
reminiscences  which  are  not  in  perfect  accord  with  it, 
and  to  establish  it  in  a  more  complete  self-conscious- 
ness and  a  more  permanent  attitude.  This  antecedent 
sense  of  need  and  longing  for  divine  communion  cannot 
be  aroused  by  music  alone;  the  enjoyment  of  abstract 
musical  beauty,  however  refined  and  elevating,  is  not 
worship,  and  a  musical  impression  disconnected  from 
any  other  cannot  conduce  to  the  spirit  of  prayer.  It  is 
only  when  the  prayerful  impulse  already  exists  as  a 
more  or  less  conscious  tendency  of  the  mind,  induced 
by  a  sense  of  love  and  duty,  by  the  associations  of  the 
time  and  place,  by  the  administration  of  the  other  por- 
tions of  the  service,  or  by  any  agencies  which  incline 
the  heart  of  the  believer  in  longing  toward  the  Mercy 
Seat,  —  it  is  only  in  alliance  with  such  an  anticipatory 
state  of  mind  and  the  causes  that  produce  it  that  music 
fulfils  its  true  office  in  public  worship.  It  is  not 
enough  to  depend  upon  the  influence  of  the  words  to 
which  the  music  is  set,  for  they,  being  simultaneous 
with  the  music,  do  not  have  time  or  opportunity  to 
act  with  full  force  upon  the  understanding;  since  the 
action  of  music  upon  the  emotion  is  more  immediate 
and  vivid  than  that  of  words  upon  the  intellect,  the 
latter  is  often  unregarded  in  the  stress  of  musical 
excitement.     However  it  may  be  in  solo  singing,  it  is 

397 


MUSIC  IN   THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

not  possible  or  even  desirable  that  the  words  of  a 
chorus  should  be  so  distinct  as  to  make  the  prime 
impression.  Those  who  demand  distinct  articulation, 
as  though  the  religious  effect  of  church  song  hung 
solely  upon  that,  do  not  listen  musically.  At  any  rate 
they  see  but  a  little  way  into  the  problem,  which  is 
concerned  not  with  the  effect  of  words  but  of  tones. 
The  text  and  music  reinforce  each  other  when  the 
words  are  known  to  the  hearer  before  the  singing 
begins,  aiding  thus  to  bring  about  the  expectancy  of 
which  I  have  spoken,  and  producing  that  satisfaction 
which  is  felt  when  musical  expression  is  perceived  to 
be  appropriate  to  its  poetic  subject. 

The  spirit  of  worship,  therefore,  must  be  aroused  by 
favoring  conditions  and  means  auxiliary  to  music,  —  it 
is  then  the  province  of  music  to  direct  this  spirit  toward 
a  more  vivid  consciousness  of  its  end.  The  case  is 
with  music  as  Professor  Shairp  says  it  is  with  nature: 
"  If  nature  is  to  be  the  symbol  of  something  higher  than 
itself,  to  convey  intimations  of  him  from  whom  both 
nature  and  the  world  proceed,  man  must  come  to  the 
spectacle  with  the  thought  of  God  already  in  his  heart. 
He  will  not  get  a  religion  out  of  the  mere  sight  of 
nature.  If  beauty  is  to  lead  the  soul  upward,  man  must 
come  to  the  contemplation  of  it  with  his  moral  convic- 
tions clear  and  firm,  and  with  faith  in  these  as  con- 
necting him  directly  with  God.  Neither  morality  nor 
religion  will  he  get  out  of  beauty  taken  by  itself." 

The  soundest  writers  on  art  maintain  that  art,  taken 
abstractly,  is  neither  moral  nor  immoral.  It  occupies 
a  sphere  apart  from  that  of  religion  or  ethics.     It  may 

398 


PROBLEMS   OF  CHURCH  MUSIC  IN  AMERICA 

Jend  its  aid  to  make  religious  and  moral  ideas  more 
persuasive ;  it  may,  through  the  touch  of  pure  beauty, 
overbear  material  and  prosaic  interests  and  help  to 
produce  an  atmosphere  in  which  spiritual  ideas  may 
range  without  friction,  but  the  mind  must  first  have 
been  made  morally  sensitive  by  other  than  purely 
artistic  means.  It  is  the  peculiar  gift  of  music  that  it 
affords  a  speedier  and  more  immediate  means  of  fusion 
between  ideas  of  sensuous  beauty  and  those  of  devo- 
tional experience  than  any  other  of  the  art  sisterhood. 
It  is  the  indefiniteness  of  music  as  compared  with 
painting  and  sculpture,  the  intensity  of  its  action  as 
compared  with  the  beauty  of  architecture  and  decora- 
tion, which  gives  to  it  its  peculiar  power.  To  this 
searching  force  of  music,  its  freedom  from  reminis- 
cences of  actual  life  or  individual  experience,  is  due 
the  prominence  that  has  been  assigned  to  music  in  the 
observances  of  religion  in  all  times  and  nations.  Piety 
falls  into  the  category  of  the  most  profound  and  absorb- 
ing of  human  emotions  —  together  with  such  sentiments 
as  patriotism  and  love  of  persons  —  which  instinctively 
utter  themselves  not  in  prose  but  in  poetry,  not  in 
oidinary  unimpassioned  speech,  but  in  rhythmic  tone. 
Music  is  the  art  most  competent  to  enter  into  such  an 
ardent  and  mobile  state  of  mind.  The  ecstasy  aroused 
in  the  lover  of  music  by  the  magic  of  his  art  is  more 
nearly  analogous  than  any  other  producible  by  art  to 
that  mystic  rapture  described  by  religious  enthusiasts. 
Worship  is  disconnected  from  all  the  concerns  of  phys- 
ical life;  it  raises  tlie  subject  into  a  super-earthly 
region;   it  has  for  the   moment  nothing   to  do   with 

399 


MUSIC  IN  THE   WESTERN  CHURCH 

temporal  activities ;  it  is  largely  spontaneous  and  unre- 
flective.  The  absorption  of  the  mind  in  contemplation, 
the  sense  of  inward  peace  which  accompanies  emancipa- 
tion from  the  disturbances  of  ordinary  life,  those  joyous 
stirrings  of  the  soul  when  it  seems  to  catch  glimpses 
of  eternal  blessedness,  have  a  striking  resemblance  to 
phases  of  musical  satisfaction  where  the  analytical 
faculties  are  not  called  into  exercise.  Hence  the 
readiness  with  which  music  combines  with  these  higher 
experiences.  Music  in  its  mystic,  indefinable  action 
seems  to  make  the  mood  of  prayer  more  active,  to 
interpret  it  to  itself,  and  by  something  that  seems 
celestial  in  the  harmony  to  make  the  mood  deeper, 
stronger,  more  satisfying  than  it  would  be  if  shut  up 
within  the  soul  and  deprived  of  this  means  of  deliver- 
ance. Music  also,  by  virtue  of  its  universal  and 
impersonal  quality,  furnishes  the  most  efficient  means 
of  communication  among  all  the  individuals  engaged 
in  a  common  act;  the  separate  personalities  are,  we 
might  say,  dissolved  in  the  general  tide  of  rapture 
symbolized  by  the  music,  and  the  common  sentiment 
is  again  enhanced  by  the  consciousness  of  sympathy 
between  mind  and  mind  to  which  the  music  testifies, 
and  which  it  is  so  efficient  to  promote. 

The  substance  of  this  whole  discussion,  therefore, 
is  that  those  who  have  any  dealing  with  music  in  the 
Church  must  take  into  account  the  inherent  laws  of 
musical  effect.  Music  is  not  a  representative  art;  it 
bears  with  it  an  order  of  impressions  untranslatable 
into  those  of  poetry  or  painting.  To  use  Walter 
Pater's  phrase,    "it  presents  no   matter  of  sentiment 

400 


PROBLEMS  OF  CHURCH  MVSIC  IN  AMERICA 

or  thought  separable  from  the  special  form  in  which 
it  is  conveyed  to  us."  It  may,  through  its  peculiar 
power  of  stimulating  the  sensibility  and  conveying 
ideas  of  beauty  in  the  purest,  most  abstract  guise,  help 
to  make  the  mind  receptive  to  serious  impressions; 
but  in  order  to  excite  a  specifically  religious  feeling 
it  must  cooperate  with  other  impressions  which  act 
more  definitely  upon  the  understanding.  The  words 
to  which  the  music  is  sung,  being  submerged  in  the 
mind  of  a  music-lover  by  the  tide  of  enchanting  sound, 
are  not  sufficient  for  this  purpose  unless  they  are 
known  and  dwelt  upon  in  advance ;  and  even  then  they 
too  need  reinforcement  out  of  the  environment  in 
which  the  musical  service  is  placed.  The  singing  of 
the  choir  must  be  contrived  and  felt  as  a  part  of  the 
office  of  prayer.  The  spirit  and  direction  of  the  whole 
service  for  the  day  must  be  unified ;  the  music  must  be 
a  vital  and  organic  element  in  this  unit.  All  parts  of 
the  service  must  be  controlled  by  the  desire  for  beauty 
and  fitness.  Music,  however  beautiful,  loses  something 
of  its  effect  if  its  accompaniments  are  not  in  harmony 
with  it.  This  desideratum  is  doubtless  most  easily 
attained  in  a  liturgic  service.  One  great  advantage 
of  an  ancient  and  prescribed  form  is  that  its  components 
work  easily  to  a  common  impression,  and  in  course  of 
time  the  ritual  tends  to  become  venerable  as  well  as 
dignified  and  beautiful.  The  non-liturgic  method 
may  without  difficulty  borrow  this  conception  of  har- 
mony and  elevation,  applying  it  so  far  as  its  own 
customs  and  rules  of  public  worship  allow.  How  this 
unity  of  action  in  the  several  factors  of  a  non-liturgio 
2«  401 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

service  may  best  be  effected  is  outside  the  purpose  of 
tliis  book  to  discuss.  The  problem  is  not  a  difficult 
one  when  minister,  choir  leader,  and  church  members 
are  agreed  upon  the  principle.  In  every  church  there 
are  sanctities  of  time  and  place;  there  are  common 
habits  of  mind  induced  by  a  common  faith ;  there  are 
historic  traditions,  —  all  contributing  to  a  unity  of  feel- 
ing in  the  congregation.  These  may  all  be  cultivated 
and  enhanced  by  a  skilfully  contrived  service,  devised 
and  moulded  in  recognition  of  the  psychologic  law  that 
an  art  form  acts  with  full  power  only  when  the  mind  is 
prepared  by  anticipation  and  congenial  accessories. 

This  conclusion  is,  however,  very  far  from  being  the 
end  of  the  matter.  The  most  devout  intention  will  not 
make  the  church  music  effective  for  its  ideal  end  if  the 
aesthetic  element  is  disregarded.  There  seems  to  be  in 
many  quarters  a  strange  distrust  of  beauty  and  skill 
in  musical  performance,  as  if  artistic  qualities  were  in 
some  way  hostile  to  devotion.  This  distrust  is  a  sur- 
vival of  the  old  Calvinistic  fear  of  everything  studied, 
formal,  and  externally  beautiful  in  public  worship.  In 
other  communities  the  church  music  is  simply  neg- 
lected, as  one  of  the  results  of  the  excessive  pre- 
dominance given  to  the  sermon  in  the  development  of 
Protestantism.  It  is  often  deemed  sufficient,  also,  if 
the  church  musicians  are  devout  men  and  women,  in 
forgetfulness  of  the  fact  that  a  musical  performance 
that  is  irritating  to  the  nerves  can  never  be  a  help  to 
devotion.  These  enemies  to  artistic  church  music  — 
hostility,  indifference,  and  ignorance  —  are  especially 
injurious  in  a  country  where,  as  in  America,  the  gen- 

402 


PROBLEMS   OF  CHURCH  MUSIC  IN  AMERICA 

eral  knowledge  and  taste  in  music  are  rapidly  growing. 
Those  churches  which,  for  any  reason  whatever,  keep 
their  musical  standard  below  the  level  of  that  which 
prevails  in  the  educated  society  around  them  are  not 
acting  for  their  own  advantage,  materially  or  spirit- 
ually. President  Faunce  was  right  when  he  told  one  of 
the  churches  of  his  denomination :  "  Your  music  must 
be  kept  noble  and  good.  If  your  children  hear  Wagner 
and  the  other  great  masters  in  their  schools,  they  will 
not  be  satisfied  with  *  Pull  for  the  shore'  in  the 
church."  Those  churches,  for  example,  which  rely 
mainly  upon  the  "  Gospel  Songs  "  should  soberly  con- 
sider if  it  is  profitable  in  the  long  run  to  maintain  a 
standard  of  religious  melody  and  verse  far  below  that 
which  prevails  in  secular  music  and  literature.  "The 
Church  is  the  art  school  of  the  common  man,"  says 
Professor  Riehl ;  and  while  it  may  be  answered  that  it 
is  not  the  business  of  the  Church  to  teach  art,  yet  the 
Church  cannot  afford  to  keep  its  spiritual  culture  out 
of  harmony  with  the  higher  intellectual  movements 
of  the  age.  One  whose  taste  is  fed  by  the  poetry  of 
such  masters  as  Milton  and  Tennyson,  by  the  music  of 
such  as  Handel  and  Beethoven,  and  Avhose  apprecia- 
tions are  sharpened  by  the  best  examples  of  perform- 
ance in  the  modern  concert  hall,  cannot  drop  his  taste 
and  critical  habit  when  he  enters  the  church  door. 
The  same  is  true  in  a  modified  degree  in  respect  to 
those  who  have  had  less  educational  advantages.  It 
is  a  fallacy  to  assert  that  the  masses  of  the  people  are 
responsive  only  to  that  which  is  trivial  and  sensational. 
In  any  case,  what  shall  be  said  of  a  church  that  is  satis- 

403 


MUSIC  IN  THE   WESTERN  CHURCH 

fied  to  leave  its  votaries  upon  the  same  intellectual  and 
spiritual  level  upon  which  it  finds  them? 

In  all  this  discussion  I  have  had  in  mind  the  steady 
and  more  normal  work  of  the  Church.  Forms  of  song 
which,  to  the  musician,  lie  outside  the  pale  of  art  may 
have  a  legitimate  place  in  seasons  of  special  religious 
quickening.  No  one  who  is  acquainted  with  the  history 
of  religious  propagation  in  America  will  despise  the 
revival  hymn,  or  deny  the  necessity  of  the  part  it  has 
played.  But  these  seasons  of  spiritual  upheaval  are 
temporary  and  exceptional ;  they  are  properly  the  begin- 
ning not  the  end  of  the  Church's  effort.  The  revival 
hymn  may  be  effective  in  soul-winning,  it  is  inadequate 
when  treated  as  an  element  in  the  larger  task  of  spiritual 
development. 

There  is  another  reason  for  insistence  upon  beauty 
and  perfection  in  all  those  features  of  public  worship 
into  which  art  enters  —  to  a  devout  mind  the  most 
imperative  of  all  reasons.  This  is  so  forcibly  stated  by 
the  great  Richard  Hooker  that  it  will  be  sufficient  to 
quote  his  words  and  leave  the  matter  there.  Speaking 
of  the  value  of  noble  architecture  and  adornment  in 
connection  with  public  acts  of  religion,  he  goes  on  to 
say:  "  We  do  thereby  give  unto  God  a  testimony  of  our 
cheerful  affection  which  thinketh  nothing  too  dear  to 
be  bestowed  about  the  furniture  of  his  service  ;  as  also 
because  it  serveth  to  the  world  for  a  witness  of  his 
almightiness,  whom  we  outwardly  honor  with  the  chiefest 
of  outward  things,  as  being  of  all  things  himself  incom- 
parably the  greatest.  To  set  forth  the  majesty  of  kings, 
his  vicegerents  in  this  world,  the  most  gorgeous  and  rare 

404 


PROBLEMS  OF  CHURCH  MUSIC  IN  AMERICA 

treasures  which  the  world  hath,  are  procured.  We 
think  belike  that  he  will  accept  what  the  meanest  of 
them  would  disdain."  * 

In  urging  onward  the  effort  after  beauty  and  perfec- 
tion in  church  music  I  have  no  wish  to  set  up  any  single 
style  as  a  model,  —  in  fact,  a  style  competent  to  serve 
as  a  universal  model  does  not  exist.  There  can  be  no 
general  agreement,  for  varied  conditions  demand  diverse 
methods.  The  Catholic  music  reformer  points  to  the 
ancient  Gregorian  chant  and  the  masterpieces  of  choral 
art  of  the  sixteenth  century  as  embodying  the  ideal 
which  he  wishes  to  assert.  The  Episcopalian  has  the 
Anglican  chant  and  anthem,  noble  and  appropriate 
in  themselves,  and  consecrated  by  the  associations  of 
three  eventful  centuries.  But  the  only  hereditary  pos- 
session of  the  Congregationalists,  Presbyterians,  and 
other  non-liturgic  bodies  is  the  crude  psalmody  of  the 
early  Calvinists  and  Puritans  which,  unlike  the  Lutheran 
choral,  has  none  of  the  musical  potencies  out  of  which 
a  church  art  can  be  developed.  In  these  societies  there 
is  no  common  demand  or  opportunity  which,  in  the 
absence  of  a  common  musical  heritage,  can  call  forth 
any  new  and  distinctive  form  of  ecclesiastical  song. 
They  must  be  borrowers  and  adapters,  not  creators. 
The  problem  of  these  churches  is  the  application  of 
existing  forms  to  new  conditions  —  directing  the  proved 
powers  of  music  along  still  higher  lines  of  service  in  the 
epoch  of   promise  which  is  now  opening  before  them. 

In  this  era  just  upon  us,  in  which  new  opportunities 
demand  of  the  Church  in  America  new  methods  through- 

*  Hooker,  Laws  of  Ecclesiastical  Polity ,  book  r.  chap.  15. 
405 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

out  the  whole  range  of  its  action,  music  will  have  a 
larger  part  to  play  than  even  heretofore.  It  is  of  great 
importance  that  her  service  should  be  employed  intelli- 
gently. Both  ministers  and  choir  leaders  should  be 
aware  of  the  nature  of  the  problems  which  ecclesiastic 
music  presents.  They  should  know  something  of  the 
experience  of  the  Church  in  its  historic  dealings  with 
this  question,  of  the  special  qualities  of  the  chief  forms 
of  church  song  which  have  so  greatly  figured  in  the 
past,  and  of  the  nature  of  the  effect  of  music  upon  the 
mind  both  by  itself  alone  and  in  collusion  with  other 
religious  influences.  How  many  ministers  and  choir- 
masters are  well  versed  in  these  matters  ?  What  are  the 
theological  seminaries  and  musical  conservatories  doing 
to  disseminate  knowledge  and  conviction  on  this  subject  ? 
In  the  seminaries  lectures  are  given  on  liturgiology  and 
hymnology ;  but  what  are  hymns  and  liturgies  without 
music  ?  And  how  many  candidates  for  the  ministry  are 
prepared  to  second  the  efforts  of  church  musicians  in 
musical  improvement  and  reform  ?  I  am,  of  course, 
aware  that  in  a  few  of  the  seminaries  of  the  non-liturgic 
denominations  work  in  this  department  of  ecclesiology 
has  been  effectively  begun.  In  the  conservatories  organ 
playing  and  singing,  both  solo  and  chorus,  are  taught, 
but  usually  from  the  technical  side,  —  the  adaptation  of 
music  to  the  spiritual  demands  of  the  Church  is  rarely 
considered.  Every  denomination  needs  a  St.  Cecilia 
Society  to  convince  the  churches  of  the  spiritual  quick- 
ening that  lies  in  genuine  church  music  and  the  mis- 
chief in  the  false,  to  arouse  church  members  to  an 
understanding  of   the  injury  that   attends  an   obvious 

406 


PROBLEMS  OF   CHURCH  MUSIC  IN  AMERICA 

incongruity  between  the  character  of  the  music  and  the 
spirit  of  prayer  which  it  is  the  purpose  of  the  established 
oflSces  of  worship  to  create,  and  to  show  how  all  portions 
of  the  service  may  act  in  harmony. 

The  general  growth  in  musical  culture,  which  is  so 
marked  a  feature  of  our  time,  should  everywhere  be  made 
to  contribute  to  the  benefit  of  the  Church.  The  teaching 
of  music  in  the  public  schools  should  be  a  means  of 
supplying  the  churches  with  efficient  chorus  singers. 
The  Church  must  also  offer  larger  inducements  to 
musicians  and  musical  students.  Here  we  touch  upon  a 
most  vital  point.  If  the  Church  wants  music  that  is 
worthy  of  her  dignity,  and  which  will  help  her  to  main- 
tain the  place  she  seeks  to  occupy  in  modern  life,  she 
must  pay  for  it.  The  reason  why  so  few  students  of 
talent  are  preparing  themselves  for  work  in  the  Church 
as  organists  and  choir  leaders  is  that  the  prospect  of  remu- 
neration is  too  small  to  make  this  special  study  worth 
their  while.  The  musical  service  of  the  Church  is,  there- 
fore, in  the  vast  majority  of  cases,  in  the  hands  either  of 
amateurs  or  of  musicians  who  are  devoting  themselves 
through  the  entire  week  to  work  which  has  nothing  to 
do  with  the  Church.  A  man  who  is  trained  wholly  or 
chiefly  as  a  pianist,  and  who  gives  his  strength  and  time 
for  six  days  to  piano  study  and  teaching,  or  a  singer 
whose  energy  is  mainly  expended  in  private  vocal  instruc- 
tion, can  contribute  little  to  the  higher  needs  of  Church 
music.  It  is  not  his  fault;  he  must  seek  his  income 
where  he  can  find  it.  The  service  of  the  Church  is  a 
side  issue,  and  receives  the  benefit  which  any  cause 
must  expect  when  it  is  given  only  the   remnants  of 

407 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

interest  and  energy  that  are  left  over  from  a  week's 
hard  labor.  There  is  a  host  of  young  musicians  to 
whom  church  work  is  exceedingly  attractive.  Let  the 
Church  magnify  the  importance  of  its  musical  service, 
and  raise  its  salaries  in  proportion,  and  an  abundant 
measure  of  the  rising  musical  talent  and  enthusiasm 
will  be  ready  at  its  call. 

The  musical  problem  of  the  non-liturgic  Church  in 
America  is,  therefore,  not  one  of  creation,  but  of  admin- 
istration. Whatever  the  mission  of  the  Church  is  to  be 
in  our  national  life,  the  opportunities  of  its  music  are  not 
to  be  less  than  of  old,  but  greater.  It  is  evident  that 
the  notion  of  conviction  of  sin  and  sudden  conversion  is 
gradually  losing  the  place  which  it  formerly  held  in 
ecclesiastical  theory,  and  is  being  supplemented,  if  not 
supplanted,  by  the  notion  of  spiritual  nurture.  The 
Church  is  finding  its  permanent  and  comprehensive  task 
in  alliance  with  those  forces  that  make  for  social  regener- 
ation ;  no  longer  to  separate  souls  from  the  world  and 
prepare  them  for  a  future  state  of  existence,  but  to  work 
to  establish  the  kingdom  of  God  here  on  earth  ;  not  deny- 
ing the  rights  of  the  wholesome  human  instincts,  but 
disciplining  and  refining  them  for  fraternal  service.  In 
this  broader  sphere  art,  especially  music,  will  be  newly 
commissioned  and  her  benign  powers  utilized  with  ever- 
increasing  intelligence.  The  Church  can  never  recover 
the  old  musical  leadership  which  was  wrested  from  her 
in  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries  by  the  opera, 
the  choral  society,  and  the  concert  system,  but  in  the 
twentieth  she  will  find  means  of  cooperating  with  these 
institutions  for  the  general  welfare. 

408 


PROBLEMS  OF  CHURCH  MUSIC  IN  AMERICA 

The  council  of  Carthage  in  the  fourth  century  laid 
this  injunction  upon  church  singers :  "  See  that  what  thou 
singest  with  thy  lips  thou  believest  in  thy  heart;  and 
what  thou  believest  in  thy  heart  thou  dost  exemplify  in 
thy  life."  This  admonition  can  never  lose  its  authority ; 
back  of  true  church  music  there  must  be  faith.  There 
comes,  however,  to  supplement  this  ancient  warning, 
the  behest  from  modern  culture  that  the  music  of  the 
sanctuary  shall  adapt  itself  to  the  complex  and  changing 
conditions  of  modern  life,  and  while  it  submits  to  the 
pure  spirit  of  worship  it  shall  grow  continually  in  those 
qualities  which  make  it  worthy  to  be  honored  by  the 
highest  artistic  taste.  For  among  the  venerable  tradi- 
tions of  the  Church,  sanctioned  by  the  wisdom  of  her 
rulei-s  from  the  time  of  the  fathers  until  now,  is  one 
which  bids  her  cherish  the  genius  of  her  children,  and 
use  the  appliances  of  imagination  and  skill  to  add 
strength  and  grace  to  her  habitations,  beauty,  dignity, 
and  fitness  to  her  ordinances  of  worship. 


409 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


List  of  books  that  are  of  especial  value  to  the  student  of  church  music, 
not  including  works  on  church  history.  Books  that  the  author  deems  of 
most  importance  are  marked  by  a  star. 


*Ambros.  Geschichte  der  Musik,  5  vols,  and  index.  Leipzig, 
Leuckart,  1880-1887. 

♦  Archer  and  Reed  (editors).     The  Choral  Service  Book.     Phila- 

delphia, General  Council  Publication  Board,  1901. 
♦Bacon  and  Allen  (editors).     The  Hymns  of  Martin  Luther  set  to 

their  Original  Melodies,  with  an  English  Version.    New  York, 

Scribner,  1883. 
Baumker.      Das    Katholische-deutsche    Kirchenlied.      Freiburg, 

Herder,  1886. 
Burney.     General  History  of  Music,  4  vols.     London,  1776. 

*  Caecilien  Kalendar,  5  vols. ;  Haberl,  editor.    Regensburg,  1876- 

1885. 

Clement.  Histoire  g^n^rale  de  la  musique  religieuse.  Paris, 
Adrien  le  Clere,  1861. 

Chappell.  History  of  Music  from  the  Earliest  Records  to  the  Fall 
of  the  Roman  Empire.     London,  Chappell. 

Chrysander.  Georg  Friedrich  Haendel,  3  vols,  (unfinished).  Leip- 
zig, Breitkopf  &  Haertel,  1856-1867. 

*  Coussemaker.     Histoire  de  I'harmonie  au  Moyen  Age.     Paris, 

Didron,  1852. 

♦  Curwen.     Studies  in  Worship  Music,  2  vols.     London,  Curwen. 
Davey.     History  of  English  Music.     London,  Curwen,  1895. 
*Dommer.    Elemente  der  Musik.     Leipzig,  Weigl,  1862. 

411 


MUSIC  IN  THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

•Dommer.     Handbuch   der   Musikgeschichte.     Leipzig,  Grunow, 

1878. 
Duen.     Clement  Marot  et  la  psautier  huguenot,  2  vols.     Paris, 

1878. 
Duffield.    English  Hymns.     New  York,  Funk,  1888. 
DuflBeld.     Latin  Hymn  Writers  and  their   Hymns.     New  York, 

Funk,  1889. 
Earle.      The   Sabbath   in   Puritan   New   England.      New   York, 

Scribner,  1891. 
Engel.     Musical   Instruments  (South   Kensington   Museum   Art 

Handbooks).     London,  Chapman  &  Hall. 
•Engel.     The  Music  of  the  Most  Ancient  Nations.      London, 

Murray,  1864. 
Fetis.     Biographie  universelle  des  Musiciens,  8  vols,  with  2  sup- 
plementary vols,  by  Pougin.     Paris,  Didot. 

*  Gevaert.    La  Melopee  antique  dans  le  Chant  de  I'Eglise  latine. 

Gand,  Hoste,  1895. 
♦(Jevaert.     Les  Origines  du  Chant  liturgique  de  I'Eglise  latine. 

Gand,  Iloste,  1890. 
Glass.     The  Story  of  the  Psalter.     London,  Paul,  1888. 
Gould.     Church  Music  in  America.     Boston,  Gould,  1853. 
♦Grove.     Dictionary  of  Music  and  Musicians,  4  vols.    London, 

Macmillan,  1879-1890. 
♦Haberl.     Magister  Choralis,  tr.  by  Donnelly.     Regensburg  and 

New  York,  Pustet,  1892. 
Hauser.     Geschichte  des  Christlichen   Kirchengesanges  und  der 

Kirchenmusik.     Quedlinburg,  Basse,  1834. 
Hawkins.     Greneral  History  of  the  Science  and  Practice  of  Music, 

3  vols.     London,  1853. 

*  Helmore.     Plain    Song    (Novello's    Music    Primers).      London, 

Novello. 
Hoffman  von  Fallersleben.     Geschichte   des   deutschen   Kirchen- 

liedes  bis  auf  Luther's  Zeit.     Hannover,  Riimpler,  1861. 
Hope.     Mediaeval  Music.     London,  Stock,  1894. 

*  Horder.     The  Hymn  Lover.     London,  Curwen,  1889. 
Hughes.      Contemporary   American    Composers.     Boston,  Page, 

1900. 

*  Jakob.    Die  Kunst  im  Dienste  der  Kirche.     Landshut,  Thomann, 

1885. 

412 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

*Jebb.     The  Choral   Service  of  the  United  Church  of  England 

and  Ireland.     Loudon,  Parker,  1843. 
♦Julian.     Dictionary  of  Hyranology.     London,  Murray,  1892. 
Kaiser  and  Sparger.     A  Collection  of  the  Principal  Melodies  of 

the  Synagogue.     Chicago,  Rubovits,  1893. 

♦  Kirchenmusikalisches  Jahrbuch  ;  Haberl,  editor.      Regensburg, 

begun  in  1886. 
Koch.     Geschichte  des  Kirchenliedes  und  Kirchengesanges,  8  vols. 
Stuttgart,  Belser,  1866. 

♦  Kostlin.     Geschichte  des  Christlichen  Gottesdienstes.     Freiburg, 

Mohr,  1887. 

♦  Kretzschmar.    Fiihrer  durch  den  Concertsaal :  Kirchliche  Werke. 

Leipzig,  Liebeskind,  1888. 

♦  Kiimmerle.     Encyclopedie    der  evangelischen   Kirchenmusik,  4 

vols.     Giitersloh,  Bertelsmann,  1888-1895. 
Langhans.     Geschichte  der  Musik  des  17,  18  und  19  Jahrhunderts, 

2  vols.     Leipzig,  Leuckart,  1887. 
La  Trobe.     The  Music  of  the  Church.     London,  Seeley,  1831. 
Liliencron.     Deutsches  Leben  im  Volkslied  um  1530.     Stuttgart, 

Spemann,  1884. 
Malim.     English    Hymn    Tunes  frona  the  Sixteenth    Century  to 

the  Present  Time.     London,  Reeves. 
•Marbecke.     The  Book  of  Common  Prayer  with  Musical  Notes ; 

Rimbault,  editor.     London,  Novello,  1845. 
Maskell.     Ancient  Liturgy  of  the  Church  of  England. 
McClintock  and  Strong.     Cyclopaidia  of  Biblical,  Theological,  and 

Ecclesiastical  Literature.     New  York,  Harper,  1867-1885. 

♦  Mees.     Choirs  and  Choral  Music.     New  York,  Scribner,  1901. 
Mendel-Reissmann.    Musikalisches  Conversations-Lexikon,  11  vols. 

Leipzig,  List  &  Francke. 
Naumann.     History  of  Music,   tr.  by  Praeger,   2  vols.     London, 
Cassell. 

♦  Neale.     Hymns  of  the  Eastern  Church.     London,  1882. 
♦O'Brien.      History   of    the   Mass.      New    York,    Catholic   Pub. 

Soc,  1893. 
♦Oxford  History  of  Music,  6  vols.  ;  Hadow,  editor.     Oxford,  Clar- 
endon Press,  now  appearing. 

♦  Parry.     Evolution  of  the  Art  of  Music.     New  York,  Appleton, 

1896. 

413 


MUSIC  IN   THE    WESTERN  CHURCH 

Perkins  and  Dwight.     History  of  the  Handel  and  Haydn  Society. 

Boston,  Mudge,  1883-1893. 
Pothier.      Les   Melodies   gregoriennes.      Gernaan  translation  by 

Kienle. 
♦Pratt.     Musical  Ministries  in  the  Church.     New  York,  Revell, 

1901.     Contains  valuable  bibliography. 

*  Proctor.     History  of   the   Book  of   Common   Prayer.     London, 

Macmillan,  1892. 
Riemann.     Catechism  of  Musical  History,  2  vols.     London,  Au- 

gener ;  New  York,  Schirmer. 
Ritter,  A.  W.     Zur  Geschichte  des  Orgelspiels.     Leipzig,  Hesse, 

1884. 
Hitter,  F.  L.     Music  in  America.     New  York,  Scribner,  1890. 
Ritter,  F.  L.     Music  in  England.     New  York,  Scribner,  1890. 
Rousseau.     Dictionnaire  de  Musique. 
Rowbotham.     History  of  Music,  3  vols.     London,  Triibner,  1885- 

1887. 
Same,  1  vol. 

Schelle.     Die  Sixtinische  Kapelle.     Wien,  Gotthard,  1872. 
Schlecht.     Geschichte  der   Kirchenmusik.     Regensburg,  Coppen- 

rath,  1879. 
Schletterer.     Geschichte  der  kirchlichen  Dichtung  und  geistlichen 

Musik.     Ndrdlingen,  Beck,  1866. 
Schletterer.      Studien  zur   Geschichte  der   franzosischen   Musik. 

Berlin,  Damkohler,  1884-1885. 

*  Schubiger.     Die   Sangerschule   St.  Gallens.     Einsiedeln,  Benzi- 

ger,  1858. 
Spencer.     Concise  Explanation  of  the  Church  Modes.     London, 
Novello. 

*  Spitta.     Johann  Sebastian  Bach,  3  vols.,  tr.  by  Clara  Bell  and 

J.  A.  Fuller  Maitland.     London,  Novello,  1884-1888. 
Spitta.     Musikgeschichtliche  Aufsiitze.     Berlin,  Paetel,  1894. 
Spitta.     Zur  Musik.     Berlin,  Paetel,  1892. 
♦Stainer.     The  Music  of  the  Bible.     London,  Cassell,  1882. 
Stainer   and   Barrett.      Dictionary   of   Musical   Twms.      Boston, 

Ditson. 
Thibaut.     Purity  in  Music,  tr.  by  Broadhouse.     London,  Reeves. 

*  Wagner,  P.      Einfiihrung  in  die  gregorianischen  Melodien.  Frei- 

burg (Schweiz),  Veith,  1895. 
414 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Winterfeld.  Das  evangelische  Kirchengesang,  3  vols.  Leipzig, 
Breitkopf  &  Haertel,  1845. 

Winterfeld.  Johanues  Gabrieli  und  sein  Zeitalter,  2  vols.  Ber- 
lin, Schlesinger,  1834. 

*  Wiseman.  Lectures  on  the  Offices  and  Ceremonies  of  Holy 
Week.     Baltimore,  Kelly,  1850. 


4t5 


INDEX 


2? 


INDEX 


Act  of  Supremacy,  325,  328,  329. 

Agathon,  pope,  110. 

Agnus  Dei,  90. 

Able,  266. 

Ainsworth,  psalm-book  of,  376. 

Altenburg,  266. 

Ambrose,  St.,  58 ;  introduces  psalm 
singing  into  Milan,  66. 

Anerios,  the,  133,  168. 

Anthem,  Anglican,  346 ;  its  differ- 
ent forms,  348 ;  periods  and  styles, 
353. 

Aria,  Italian,  origin  of,  190;  its 
supremacy  in  the  seventeenth 
and  eighteenth  centuries,  191 ; 
its  introduction  into  church  mu- 
sic in  Italy,  193,  269;  influence 
upon  German  church  music, 
267,  269,  318;  adoption  into  the 
cantata,  273 ;  into  the  Passion 
music,  276.  280. 

Art,  Catholic  conception  of  reli- 
gious, 70,  174;  Calvinist  and 
Puritan  hostility  to  art  in  con- 
nection with  worship,  363,  369, 
372. 

Asor,  23. 

Assyrians,  religious  music  among 
the,  12. 

Attwood,  354. 

Augustine,  missionary  to  England, 
117. 

Augustine,  St.,  quoted,  51,  67  ;  tra- 
ditional author,  with  St.  Ambrose, 
of  the  Te  Deum,  58 ;  effect  of 
ptusic  upon,  372. 


B 


Bach,  Johann  Sebastian,  his  relation 
to  German  church  music,  282, 
287,  289 ;  the  Bach  family,  284 ; 
Bach's  birth,  education,  and  offi- 
cial positions,  286 ;  condition  of 
German  music  in  his  early  days, 
287 ;  his  organ  music,  290,  292 ; 
fugues,  292 ;  choral  preludes, 
295 ;  cantatas,  300 ;  style  of  his 
arias,  304 ;  of  his  chonises,  305 ; 
Passion  according  to  St.  Matthew, 
307 ;  compared  with  Handel's 
"  Messiah,"  307  ;  its  formal  ar- 
rangement and  style,  308 ;  per- 
formance by  Mendelssohn,  312; 
the  Mass  in  B  minor,  204,  211, 
312;  national  and  individual 
character  of  Bach's  genius,  314; 
its  universality,  316;  decline  of 
his  influence  after  his  death,  317. 

Bach  Society,  New,  322. 

Bardi,  188. 

Barnby,  355,  383. 

Battishill,  354. 

Beethoven,  his  Mass  in  D,  119,  200, 
204,  210. 

Behem,  229. 

Benedictus,  88. 

Bennett,  355. 

Berlioz,  his  Requiem,  199,  200,  204. 

Beza,  360. 

Bisse,  quoted,  338. 

Boleyn,  Anne,  326. 

Bonar,  381. 

Boniface,  118. 

Bourgeois,  SSQ. 


419 


INDEX 


Boyce,  35^. 

Brethren  of  the  Common  Life,  234, 

Bridge,  355. 

Buxtehude,  292. 

Byrd,  350. 


Caccini,  188,  189,  190. 

Calvin,  his  hostility  to  forms  in 
worship,  358,  363 ;  adopts  the 
psalms  of  Marot  and  Beza,  360. 

Canon  of  the  Mass,  89. 

Cantata,  German  church,  270,  272 ; 
origin  and  development,  273. 
See  also  Bach. 

Cartwright,  his  attack  upon  the 
established  Church,  367. 

Cary  sisters,  381. 

Cassell,  quoted,  45. 

Catherine,  wife  of  Henry  VIII.. 
326. 

Celestine  I.,  pope,  110. 

Chalil,  22. 

Chant,  nature  of,  40,  97  ;  the  form 
of  song  in  antiquity,  40 ;  its 
origin  in  the  early  Church,  51 ; 
its  systematic  culture  in  the 
Roman  Church,  sixth  century, 
67. 

Chant,  Anglican,  336,  340;  Gre- 
gorian movement  in  the  Church 
of  England,  342 ;  first  harmo- 
nized chants,  345. 

Chant,  Catholic  ritual,  epoch  of, 
93 ;  liturgic  importance,  94,  99, 
405  ;  general  character,  95,  104  ; 
different  clas.ses,  103;  rhythm, 
105;  rules  of  performance,  105; 
origin  and  development,  99,  109; 
key  sy.stem,  113;  mediaeval  em- 
bellishment,  115;  extension  over 
Europe,  117;  legends  connected 
with,  122;  later  neglect  and  re- 
vived modern  study,  126;  use  in 
the  early  Lutheran  Church,  260 ; 


"  Gregorlans  "  in  the  Church  of 
England,  337,  341. 

Charlemagne,  his  service  to  the 
Roman  liturgy  and  chant,  118. 

Charles  II.,  king  of  England,  his 
patronage  of  church  music,  352. 

Cherubini,  mass  music  of,  204,  213. 

Choral,  German,  sources  of,  260; 
at  first  not  harmonized,  262 ; 
later  rhythmic  alterations,  263  ; 
its  occasional  adoption  by  Catho- 
lic churches,  264 ;  its  condition 
in  the  seventeenth  century,  265  ; 
decline  in  the  eighteenth  century, 
266 ;  choral  tunes  in  the  cantata, 
274,  302 ;  in  the  Passion  music, 
280;  as  an  element  in  organ 
music,  290,  294 ;  use  in  Bach's 
St.  Matthew  Passion,  308,  309, 
311. 

Choral,  or  Cathedral  mode  of  per- 
forming the  Anglican  service, 
333. 

Clement  of  Alexandria,  quoted,  54 ; 
his  song  to  the  Logos,  56. 

Clement  VII.,  pope,  326, 

Colet,  327. 

Common  Prayer,  Book  of,  328, 330 ; 
musical  setting  by  Marbecke,  337, 
369. 

Communion,  90. 

Congregational  singing,  its  decline 
in  the  early  Church,  48  ;  vital 
place  in  Protestant  worship,  223  ; 
in  Germany  before  the  Reforma- 
tion, 228  et  seq. ;  not  encouraged 
in  the  Catholic  Church,  240 ;  in 
the  Church  of  Luther,  242; 
among  the  Puritans,  376. 

Constantine,  edicts  of,  62. 

Constitutions  of  the  Apostles,  47. 

Cosmas,  St.,  60. 

Counterpoint,  mediaeval,  growth  o^ 
140,  148. 

Counter-Reformation,  156,  264. 

Cowper,  381,387. 

Coxe,  381. 


420 


INDEX 


Cranmer,  328,  329,  331,  337. 

Credo,  88. 

Croce,  168. 

Cromwell,  369,  371,872. 

Crotch,  354. 

Criiger,  266. 

Curwen,  quoted,  343. 

Cymbals,  24,  26. 

D 

Dance,  religious,  its  prominence 
in  primitive  worship,  3 ;  twofold 
purpose,  5 ;  among  the  Egyp- 
tians, 6  ;  among  the  Greeks,  6  ; 
in  early  Christian  worship,  8. 

David,  his  contribution  to  the  He- 
brew ritual,  24. 

Day's  psalter,  34.5. 

Deutsche  Messe,  Luther's,  245,  247. 

Dies  Irse,  60. 

Discant,  first  form  of  mediaeval 
part  writing,  138. 

Dubois,  2)7. 

Durante,  213. 

Dvorak,  his  Requiem,  204,  219; 
Stabat  Mater,  219. 

Dykes,  383. 


£ 


Eccard,  271. 

Eckart,  229,  231. 

Edward  VI.,  king  of  England,  327, 

328. 
Egyptians,  religious  music  among 

the,  12. 
"  Ein'  feste  Burg,"  251,  252,  253, 

259,264,302. 
Ekkehard  V.,  quoted,  121. 
Elizabeth,  queen  of  England,  327, 

329,332,358. 
Ellerton,  381. 
Ephraem,  57. 
Erasmus,  327. 
Eybler,  207. 


Faber,  381. 

Faunce,  quoted,  403. 

Female  voice  not  employed  in 
ancient  Hebrew  worship,  29 ; 
similar  instances  of  exclusion  in 
the  modern  Church,  30. 

Festivals,  primitive,  4  ;  in  the  early 
Church,  65. 

Flagellants,  231. 

Folk-song,  as  possible  origin  of 
some  of  the  ancient  psalm  mel- 
odies, 31  ;  German  religious,  be- 
fore the  Reformation,  228  et  seq. ; 
German  secular,  transformed  into 
religious,  232 ;  folk-tunes  as 
sources  of  the  Lutheran  choral, 
261. 

Formula  Missae,  Lather's,  245. 

Franc,  360. 

Franck,  218. 

Frank,  266. 

Frauenlob,  229. 

Frescobaldi,  292. 

Froberger,  292. 

Fuller,  quoted,  375. 


Gabrieli,  Giovanni,  170. 

Gabrielis,  the,  93,  133,  170. 

Galilei,  188. 

Garrett,  355. 

Gerhardt,  266,  311. 

Gevaert,  works  on  the  origins  of 

the    Gregorian     chant,    quoted, 

109. 
Gibbons,  350,  352. 
Gibbons,  Cardinal,  quoted,  75,  84. 
Gigout,  217. 

Gloria  in  excelsis,  58,  87. 
Glossolalia,  44. 
Goss,  355. 

Gottfried  von  Strasaburg,  229. 
Gondimel,  154,  360. 


42a 


INDEX 


Gonnod,  mass  music  of,  199,  200, 
213,  216. 

Gradual,  88. 

Greeks,  religious  music  among  the, 
14,  19;  Greek  influence  upon 
early  Christian  worship,  42,  63, 
65  ;  relation  of  Greek  music  to 
Christian,  52. 

Green,  quoted,  117. 

Greene,  354. 

Gregorian  Chant,  see  Chant,  Cath- 
olic ritual. 

Gregory  I.,  pope,  his  traditional 
services  to  the  ritual  chant,  107  ; 
objections  to  this  tradition,  108. 

Gregory  II.,  pope,  113. 

Gregory  III.,  pope,  113. 

Greil,  212,  321. 

Guilmant,  217. 


H 


Handel,  279,  297,  306,  319,  323,  354 ; 
the  "  Me.i.siah,"  307. 

Haiiimerschmidt,  266. 

Ilannony,  virtually  unknown  in 
ancient  music,  18  ;  beginnings  in 
modern  music,  130  ;  change  from 
mediaeval  to  modern,  201. 

Hartmann  von  Aue,  229. 

Hasler,  271. 

Hauptmann,  321. 

Havert,  212. 

Hiiydn,  mass  music  of,  205,  208 ; 
"  The  Creation  "  stimulates  for- 
mation of  choral  societies  in  Ger- 
many, 319. 

Hayes,  3.j4. 

Hiizozerah,  22. 

lieber,  381. 

Hebrews,  did  not  assign  a  super- 
human source  to  music,  14;  their 
employment  of  music,  20 ;  nat- 
ure and  uses  of  instruments,  21  ; 
ritualistic  developments  under 
David  and  Solomon,  24 ;  psalms 


and  the  method  of  singing  them, 
27. 

Henry  VIII.,  king  of  England, 
declares  himself  head  of  the 
English  Church,  325;  not  the 
originator  of  the  Reformation  in 
England,  316 ;  changes  in  policy, 
328. 

Herve',  122. 

Hezekiah,  restoration  of  the  temple 
worship  by,  25. 

Holmes,  381. 

Hooker,  author  of  The  Laws  of 
Ecclesiastical  Polity,  his  defence 
of  the  music  and  art  of  the 
established  Church,  367,  404. 

Hooper,  329. 

Hopkins,  355,  383. 

Horder,  author  of  The  Hymn  Lover, 
381  n. 

Hucbald,  136. 

Hus,  founder  of  Bohemian  hym- 
nody,  233. 

Hymn-books,  early  Bohemian,  233 ; 
first  Lutheran,  249 ;  Catholic 
German,  264 ;  recent  American, 
385.     See  also  Psalmody. 

Hymns,  their  first  appearance  in 
Christian  literature  and  worship, 
42,  46 ;  Greek  hymns  in  the 
early  Christian  Church,  56. 

Hymns,  Bohemian,  233. 

Hymns,  English  and  American,  379 
et  seq. ;  "  uninspired  "  hymns  not 
permitted  by  Calvin  and  the  Puri- 
tans, 361,  373;  hymns  of  Watts 
and  the  Wesleys,  379 ;  beauty 
and  range  of  the  later  English 
and  American  hymnody,  380. 

Hymns,  Latin,  60,  235. 

Hymns,  Lutheran,  historic  impor- 
tance of,  225,  303 ;  introduction 
into  the  liturgy,  247  ;  first  hymn- 
books,  249.     See  also  Luther. 

Hymns,  pre-Reformation  German, 
their  history  and  character,  228; 
not  liturgic,  240. 


A'J> 


INDEX 


Rjmni,  Sjrian,  57. 
Hymn-tunes,  English,  382. 
fiymn-tones,  German,  see  Choral. 


Iguatias,  St.,  traditional  introdnc- 
tion  of  chanting  into  the  Church 
by,  48. 

Ildefonso,  St.,  118. 

Instruments,  how  first  used  in  wor- 
ship, 3,  10;  their  use  in  Egyptian 
ceremonies,  12;  among  the 
Greeks,  14;  among  the  Hebrews, 
21,  32;  not  used  in  the  early 
Church,  54. 


Jakob,  quoted,  77,  175. 

James,  St.,  liturgy  of,  49. 

Jean  de  Muris,  quoted,  146. 

Jebb,  quoted,  333,  335,  339. 

Jews,  see  Hebrews. 

John  Damascene,  St.,  60. 

John  the  Deacon,  author  of  a  life 

of  Gregory  I.,  108. 
Jomelli.  213. 
Josqnin  des  Pre's,  133,  154. 


E 

Keble,  376,  381. 
Kiel,  212,321. 
Kinnor,  21. 

Kretzschmar,  quoted,  306. 
Kunrad  der  Marner,  229. 
Kyrie  eleison,  57,  87  ;  popular  nse 
in  Germany,  229. 


Lauciani,  quoted,  63. 
Lang,  Andrew,  quoted,  7. 
Laodicea,   injunction   in  regard  to 
singing  by  council  of,  50,  51. 


Laasns,  93,  133,  154,  167,  173. 

Latimer,  329. 

Lemaire,  quoted,  116. 

Leo  I.,  pope,  110. 

Lesueur,  214. 

"  Lining  out,"  370. 

Liszt,  criticisms  upon  Paris  church 
music,  206 ;  imagines  a  new  style 
of  religious  music,  214. 

Liturgy,  Anglican,  329;  modes  of 
rendering,  333  tt  teq.;  intoning 
of  prayers,  337. 

Liturgy,  Catholic,  origin  of,  81,  83; 
language  of,  82;  outline  and 
components  of,  87 ;  a  musical 
liturgy,  92. 

Liturgy,  Luther's,  see  Formula  Mis- 
sae,  aud  Deutsche  Messe. 

Liturgy  of  St.  James,  49,  50 ;  of  St. 
Mark,  49. 

Longfellow,  translation  of  "  0  glad- 
some light,"  58. 

Lotti,  133. 

Louis  IX.,  king  of  France,  148. 

Luther,  his  service  to  German 
hymnody,  226,  243,  248;  his  re- 
form of  the  liturgy,  244 ;  his 
theory  of  worship,  245 ;  origin  of 
his  hymns,  250 ;  their  spirit  and 
literary  style,  251  ;  nature  of  his 
work  for  congregational  music, 
258;  Luther  not  a  composer  of 
tunes,  259 ;  quoted,  260. 

Lyric  poetry,  two  forms  of,  27. 

Lyte,  381. 


M 

Mackenzie,  355. 

Marbecke,  his  musical  setting  of 

the   English   Prayer   Book,  337. 
Marot,  psalm  translations  of,  359. 
Martin,  355. 
Mary,  queen  of  England,  reaction 

under,  329,  332. 


423 


INDEX 


Mass,  theory  of,  83,  91,  240;  differ- 
ent kinds  of,  85;  in  England, 
328,  332.  See  also  Liturgy, 
Catholic. 

Milman,  381. 

Milton,  365. 

Mixed  mode  of  performing  the 
Anglican  service,  335. 

Monk,  355,  383. 

Montgomery,  381. 


N 


Naninis,  the,  168. 

Neale,  quoted  on  the  Greek  hymns, 

59. 
Nebel,  22. 

Netherlandera,  age  of  the,  149. 
Neukomm,  207. 
Newman,  381. 
Newton,  381,  387. 
Nicholas  I.,  pope,  1 22. 
Notker  Balbulus,  reputed  founder 

of  the  Sequence,  121. 


o 


Oblation  of  the  Host,  88. 

Offertory,  88. 

Opera,  invention  of,  186,  188  ;  ideal 

and  form  of  early  Italian,  190; 

opera  and  church,  193. 
Oratorio,  its  rise  in  Germany  and 

effect  on  church  music,  319. 
Organ   music,   its    beginnings     in 

Venice,  169,  171  ;  in  the  German 

Protestant     Church,     269,    270, 

290;    Bach's    organ  works,    see 

Bach. 
Organs,    Puritan    hatred    of,   365, 

370 ;  destroyed  by  the  Puritans, 

371. 
Organum,  136. 
Osmund,  bishop  of  Salisbury,  331. 


Pachelbel,  292. 

Palestrina,  93,  133,  151  ;  the  Mass 
of  Pope  Marcellus,  152,  154; 
myth  of  the  rescue  of  church 
music  by  Palestrina,  152;  com- 
pared with  Lassns,  173, 

"Palestrina  style,"  158;  tonality, 
1 58  ;  construction,  1 59 ;  tone 
color,  how  produced,  166;  aes- 
thetic and  religious  effect,  173, 
177;  limits  of  characterization, 
178, 

Palmer,  381. 

Parallelism  in  Hebrew  poetry,  28. 

Parochial  mode  of  performing  the 
Anglican  service,  335. 

Passion  music,  German,  270,  272  ; 
origin  and  early  development, 
274 ;  from  Schiitz  to  Bach,  Ham- 
burg Passions,  280, 

Passion  play,  274, 

Pater,  quoted,  400. 

Paul,  St.,  his  injunction  in  regard 
to  song,  42 ;  allusion  to  the  glos* 
solalia,  44. 

Pergolesi,  213. 

Philo,  48. 

Pietism,  its  effect  on  church  music, 
266,  319. 

Plain  Song,  see  Chant,  Catholic 
ritual ;  also  Chant,  Anglican. 

Plato,  his  opinion  of  the  purpose  of 
music,  14. 

Pliny,  his  report  to  Trajan  concern- 
ing Christian  singing,  47. 

Plutarch  on  the  function  of  music, 
1.5. 

"  Pointing,"  341. 

Post-Communion,  90. 

Prayer  Book,  see  Common  Prayer, 
Book  of. 

Preface,  88. 

Psalmody,  Puritan,  369,  373; 
methods  of  singing,  377,  405. 

Psalms,  how  sung  in  the  ancient 


424 


INDEX 


Hebrew  worship,  27 ;  adopted  by 
the  Christians,  41  ;  antiphonal 
psalmody  in  Milan  in  the  fourth 
century,  66  ;  in  Rome  in  the  fifth 
century,  67;  in  the  Church  of 
England,  see  Chant,  Anglican ; 
metrical  psalm  versions,  see 
Psalmody. 

Psalter,  Genera,  origin  of,  359, 

Psaltery,  23. 

Purcell,  347,  352. 

Puritanism,  324,  327, 358, 364  et  seq. 

Puritans,  their  hostility  to  artistic 
music,  365  et  seq. ;  their  attacks 
upon  episcopacy  and  ritualism, 
366,  369  ;  their  ravages  in  the 
churches,  371  ;  their  tenets  and 
nsages  maintained  after  the  Res- 
toration, 372 ;  Puritan  music  in 
America,  390. 


R 


Recitative,  188. 

Reformation  in  England,  its  nature, 
causes,  and  progress,  325  et  seq. 

Reinken,  295. 

Reinmar  der  Zweter,    229. 

Renaissance,  its  influence  upon 
musical  development,  185,  187, 
272 ;  parallel  between  Renais- 
sance religious  painting  and 
Catholic  Church  music,  194. 

Requiem  Mass,  85. 

Rheinberger,  212. 

Richter,  321. 

Ridley,  329. 

Robert,  king  of  France,  147. 

Romanus,  119. 

Rossini,  religious  music  of,  207, 
213. 


Sachs,  229. 

St.  Cecilia  Society,  180,  212. 


St.  Gall,  conrent  of ,  u  a  moBical 
centre,  118. 

Saint- Saens,  217. 

Sanctus,  88. 

Savages,  religious  sentiment  among, 
2 ;  methods  of  religion*  expres- 
sion, 3. 

Schaff,  quoted,  44. 

Scheldt,  292. 

Schleiermacher,  321. 

Schola  Cantorum,  181,  288  n. 

Schop,  266. 

Schubert,  masses  of,  199,  200, 
211. 

Schubiger,  quoted,  119. 

Schiitz,  greatest  German  composer 
before  Bach  and  Handel,  277 ; 
his  education  and  musical  meth- 
ods, 277 ;  Symphoniae  sacra,  278 ; 
dramatic  religious  works,  278; 
Passion  settings,  278;  his  isolated 
musical  position,  279. 

Sechter,  207. 

Seminaries,  theological,  and  church 
music,  406. 

Senfl,  264. 

Sequence,  88;  origin  and  earlj 
character,  12i. 

"  Service,"  Anglican,  345. 

Shairp,  quoted,  398. 

Shophar,  22. 

Sistrum,  23. 

Six  Articles,  328. 

Smart.  355,  383. 

Spencer,  Herbert,  quoted,  5,  15. 

SperatuSj  249. 

Spitta,  quoted,  322. 

Stainer,  355 ;  quoted,  342. 

Stanford,  355. 

Stern  hold  and  Hopkins,  psalm  ver- 
sion of,  375,  377. 

Stile  famigliare,  151,  158,  159. 

Sullivan,  355,  383. 

Swelinck,  292. 

Symbolism,  in  ancient  music,  11, 
14. 

Synagogue,  worship  in  the  ancient, 


420 


INDEX 


33;  modified  by  the  Christians, 
41. 
Sjnesitu,  57. 


Tallis,  168,  34.5,  350. 

Tate  and  Brady,  psalm  version  of, 
376. 

Tauler,  229,  231,  238. 

Taylor,  Bayard,  quoted,  254. 

Te  Deum,  58. 

Therapeutae,  48. 

Thirty  Years'  War,  264,  265,  285. 

Thomas  a  Kempis,  224. 

Tones,  Gregorian,  100. 

Tones,  psalm,  see  Tones,  Grego- 
rian. 

Toph,  22. 

Tours,  355. 

Tractus,  88. 


u 


Ugab,  22. 


Van  Lann,  quoted,  359. 
Vehe,  264. 


Venice,  church  music  in,  168. 
Verdi,  his  Requiem,  199,  200,  213, 

218. 
Vittoria,  133,  168. 


w 

Wackernagel's  collection  of  Ger- 
man pre-Reformation  hymns, 
228. 

Wagner,  P.,  quoted,  104. 

Walther,  Johann,  249,  259,  260, 
264. 

Walther  von  der  Vogelweide,  229. 

Watts,  psalm  version  of,  376 ; 
hymns,  379,  380,  387. 

Wesley,  Charles,  379,  381. 

Wesley,  John,  379. 

Wesleyan  movement,  revival  of 
hymn  singing  in  the,  379. 

Whittier,  381. 

Wiclif,  327. 

Willaert,  133,  168,  169. 

Wiuterfeld,  quoted,  170. 

Wiseman,  quoted,  76. 

Witt,  founder  of  St.  Cecilia  Society 
180. 

Wrangham,  376. 


lire 


By  EDWARD  DICKINSON,   Litt.D. 

Professor  of  the  History  and  Criticism  of  Music.  Oberlin  CoUec* 
Published  by 

CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS,  NEW  YORK 

Music  and  the  Higher 
Education 

A  stimulating  and  suggestive  book,  of  the  greatest  practical 
value  in  the  rapidly  growing  movement  for  the  study  of 
musical  history  and  appreciation  in  the  universities  and  higher 
schools.  A  most  convincing  exposition  of  what  is  to  be  sought 
and  gained  in  a  field  now  first  receiving  its  full  educational 
recognition. 

Contents:  Prelude— In  a  College  Music  Room.  I.  The  College  and 
the  Fine  Arts.  II.  Music  in  the  College.  III.  Teacher  and  Cntic:  His 
Preparation  and  His  Method. 

"  He  has  the  rare  faculty  of  writing  about  music  in  a  melodir  manner;  ...  he  it 
not  pedantic;  his  art  is  inspiring  and  vitaliring,  ...  A  tribute  to  music  that  is  es- 
sentially noble,  and  a  stop  forward  in  the  development  of  a  public  taste  for  the  art 
of  music." — Kcview  of  KeTifws. 

Tlie  Education  of  a 
Music  Lover 


Contents:  I.  The  New  Musical  Education.  II.  The  Music  Lover's 
Need  of  Education.  III.  Definite  Hearing:  The  Problem  of  Form.  IV. 
The  Beauty  of  Melody  and  Rhythm.  V.  The  Beauty  of  Harmony.  VI. 
Performance:  The  Art  of  the  Pianist.  VII.  The  Art  of  Song:  Music  and 
Poetry.  VIII.  The  Art  of  Song:  The  Technique  of  the  Singer.  IX.  The 
Problem  of  Expression:  Representative  Music.  X.  Music  History  and 
Biography.     XI.  The  Music  Lover  and  the  Higher  Law. 

"  Every  page  has  a  distinct  and  individual  charm.  .  .  .  His  chapters  on  the  art  of 
the  pianist  and  of  the  singer  are  admirably  written,  and  every  reader,  whether 
amateur  or  professional,  will  find  something  informing  in  the  chapter  deahng  with 
'representative  '  music,  the  leading  type  of  the  present." — New  York  Sun. 

"A  book  that  ran  be  warmly  commended  to  all  musicians,  concert-goers  and  all 
that  are  interested  in  every  way.  .  .  .  Profes»or  Dickinson  thinks  clearly  and  sanely, 
is  eminently  fair-minded  and  catholic  in  taste,  and  writes  with  clarity  of  expression 
and  uncommon  charm  of  style." — Boston  Hirald. 


By  EDWARD  DICKINSON,   Litt.D. 

The  Study  of  the  History 
of  Music 


Contents:  Primitive  Music.  Music  of  the  Assyrians,  Egyptians,  He- 
brews, Greeks  and  Romans.  Sung  in  the  Early  Christian  Church.  The 
Catholic  Liturgy  and  Liturgic  Chant.  Beginnings  of  Polyphonic  Music. 
Popular  Music  in  the  Middle  Ages.  The  Age  of  the  Netherlanders,  1400- 
1550.  Choral  Music  of  the  Sixteenth  Century.  Early  German  Protestant 
Music.  Protestant  Church  Music  in  England.  The  Madrigal.  The  Opera, 
Modern  Tonality.  Early  Growth  of  Instrumental  Music.  The  Violin  and 
Its  Music.  Keyed  Chamber  of  Instrunaents.  The  Italian  Opera  in  the 
Seventeenth  Century.  The  Opera  BuEa,  Seventeenth  and  Eighteenth 
Centuries.  Rise  of  the  Opera  in  France,  Seventeenth  Century  Italian 
Optra  Sena  in  the  Seventeenth  Century.  Bach.  Handel.  Gluck.  Haydn. 
Mozart.  Beethoven.  The  German  Romantic  Opera.  Weber.  The  Ger- 
man Lied.  Schubert.  Piano  Playing  to  About  1830.  Schumann.  Mendels- 
sohn. Chopin.  Programme  Music.  Berlioz.  Liszt.  French  and  Italian  Opera 
in  the  Nineteenth  Century.  Wagner.  Recent  Music  in  Germany,  Austria, 
France,  Italy,  Russia,  Bohemia,  Scandinavia,  England,  and  America,  etc. 

"  His  book  is  certainly  almost  unique  in  its  clearness  of  statement  and  general 
nsefulness  ;  it  is  a  marvel  of  condensed  information.  Not  only  are  all  the  main 
epochs  in  the  evolution  of  music  briefly  and  happily  characterized,  but  every  section 
is  followed  by  a  paragraph  in  smaller  type  rcferrmg  the  reader  to  the  best  books  and 
articles  in  the  English  l.inguage  as  that  particular  phase  of  the  question.  The 
counties^  women's  clubs  in  the  country  will,  of  course,  give  it  a  place  of  honor  in  their 
libraries." — The  Nation. 


Music  in  the  History  of  the 
Western  Church 


"  To  his  evidently  wide  knowledge  of  the  causes  of  church  music  in  Ui  many 
stages,  and  acquaintance  with  its  historical  environment,  Professor  Dickinson  brings 
a  broad  and  intelligent  human  sympathy.  He  shows  critical  fairness  alike  in  his 
treatment  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Miiss  and  the  rise  of  Lutheran  hymnody,  of 
Anglican  Church  music  and  Puritan  psalmody  in  England  and  America.  The  treat- 
ment is  free  from  unnecessary  technicalities.  This  book  furnishes  just  the  sort  of 
information  every  clergyman  ought  to  have.  A  course  of  study,  following  some  such 
line  as  is  here  marked  out,  ought  to  be  given  in  every  theological  seminary." 

— JAe  OuUook. 

"A  very  dignified,  painstaking,  thoughtful  treatise,  broad  in  its  scope,  scholarly 
in  its  method,  and  exceedingly  suggestive  and  powerful  on  many  questions  both  of 
history  and  a;stlictics.  ...  It  will  certainly  establish  itself  at  once  as  one  of  the  in- 
dispensable hand-books  of  the  subject,  especially  as  it  is  written  with  no  slight  liter- 
ary finish  and  warmth." — Prof.  Waldo  S.  Pratt,  of  Hartford  Theological  Seminary. 

CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS,  NEW  YORK 


3  1158  01318  0459 


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AA      000  047196    1 


